


Hubble's Constant

by Captain_Jade



Series: Hubble's Constant [1]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: (for mostly everyone...), Abusive Relationships, Action/Adventure, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universes, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Bad Decisions, Bad Parenting, Cole can tell, Dark, Descent into Madness, Dimension Travel, Distorted Reality, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Fluff, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts, For Science!, Foreshadowing, Gen, Heavy Angst, Heroes to Villains, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, I am taking on WAY too many storylines at once lol, Insanity, Jay is in trouble, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Monsters, Mystery, Mystery Character(s), Past Character Death, Please Forgive me, Plot Devices, Plot Twists, Redemption, Rescue Missions, Science Experiments, Science Fiction, Self-Destruction, Slow Build, Some Humor, Sorry Not Sorry, Suspense, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Time Shenanigans, Torture, Universe Alteration, Weird Plot Shit, good lord there are so many plot twists, he has Jaydar, i did not intend for this to be so angsty i swear, i promise eventually everything will be okay, slight body horror, way too many cliffhangers and plot twists, yep lets rip a hole in the space time continuum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Jade/pseuds/Captain_Jade
Summary: Libber is totally, absolutely, completely fine. Better than fine, actually—the new technique she's discovered that allows her to amplify her powers tenfold has made she and the other elementals more effective than ever. She doesn't know what everyone else is so worried about. Maybe it's dangerous, but it's not like it could actually hurt her. She's the master of lightning, after all. She can take it.Meanwhile in present day Ninjago, lately Jay has been briefly blipping out of reality and ending up in a place the mysterious voice than inhabits it calls "The In Between." But it's definitely not a problem. It's probably just a completely harmless side effect of the trick he learned about from his birth mother's journal that Cole found in his attic. There's absolutely nothing to worry about. Everything is fine. Everything is perfect.
Relationships: Cole & Jay Walker, Cole & Lloyd Garmadon & Kai & Nya & Jay Walker & Zane, Cole/Jay Walker, Kai/Zane (if you squint), Libber Gordon & Lilly Hence, Nya/Jay Walker, but romance is really not a focus in this fic, eventual mudshock (Cole/Nya/Jay), it's like not even the f storyline let alone b
Series: Hubble's Constant [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119245
Comments: 102
Kudos: 114





	1. Castaspella is a Stupid Middle Name

Liberty likes all animals, but she's always been more of a dog person. The only people that have ever been able to keep up with her ridiculous amount of energy have all been dogs. Except...dogs aren't really "people." Are they? It doesn't matter. They should be; they're better than people anyway.

"You're lucky, Sushi," Libber mutters, looking down at her border collie who's sitting next to her in the grass. "I wish I was a dog. You guys get me."

Sushi puts his head on Libber's lap and sighs dramatically, as if he fully comprehends what a tragedy it is that Liberty is not a dog and is sharing in her disappointment.

"Like, there are literally no downsides to me being a dog. I would get to run around and chase squirrels all the time. That sounds like a perfect life to me. No responsibilities, no super vague prophecies that have you bound to destiny with absolutely no wiggle room for fooling around or doing anything remotely interesting...plus, most people like dogs. Nobody would get mad at me if I was a dog. I wouldn't be able to talk if I was a dog. I suppose that could be seen as a downside, but if I can't talk, I can't say anything stupid that makes people mad at me. So that's another plus."

Libber sighs and lays down.

"I wonder if, if I just stayed here forever, if anyone would ever come looking for me. Maybe they won't care." She blinks. "Well. They _would_ look for me. They need me because I can shoot lightning bolts out of my hands. But if I couldn't do that, they wouldn't care. I could just be here, for like, forever, and they wouldn't even wonder where I-"

"Who are you talking to?"

Libber yelps at the sound of Maya's voice behind her and accidentally shoots a bolt of lightning into a tree, setting it on fire. Maya puts it out with her water powers and sighs.

"Was that really necessary?"

"Well, I didn't do it on _purpose_! You startled me!"

"I wasn't trying to sneak up on you. I guess you just didn't hear me walk up because you were too busy talking to yourself."

Liberty clears her throat and gestures to her dog. "I was talking to Sushi," she announces.

"Right. Anyway, Lilly told me to come find you."

"Why didn't she come find me herself?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe because she's pregnant and she has better things to do than wander around the woods looking for an idiot?" Maya suggests.

"You're pregnant, too," Libber points out.

"Not as pregnant as Lilly. I'm still in the first trimester."

"Okay, fine," Libber huffs. "What does she want?"

"She just wants you to stop moping around in the woods."

"No, seriously, what does she want?"

"No, seriously, her exact words were 'tell that idiot to stop moping around in the woods.'"

"Why does _she_ care if I mope around in the woods?"

"Because she's your best friend and she's worried about you."

A look comes over Libber's face that sends a shiver down Maya's spine. "I told you there's nothing to worry about," Libber says in a low voice.

Maya bites her lip. "Right. Sorry. We just...don't want you to mope around in the woods all day. We miss you, you know."

Libber stares at her for a few more seconds before clicking her tongue. "Right." She lets Maya pull her to her feet. "I still would rather be a dog than a human, though."

Just like that, she's back to normal. Maya forces the uneasy feeling she'd had a moment ago out of her head. "That's fair. You'd make a good dog."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You're like a golden retriever."

"Oh, cool!" Libber chirps. There's a little hop in her step as she quickens her pace to catch up with Sushi, who always runs ahead. Maya chuckles. Technically she's about a year younger than Libber, but everyone always forgets that fact because the lightning master acts so childish. As annoying as Libber can be, she's still the "baby" of the team. She pretty much _is_ a dog. She's ridiculously energetic and distractible, and, like she said earlier, would be perfectly happy doing nothing but run around and chase squirrels for the rest of her life.

Maya's face falls slightly. As one of the main four elementals mentioned in the prophecy, Libber doesn't really have a choice in what she gets to do with her life anyway. Despite how much she brags about how cool her powers are, Maya happens to know for a fact that if given the choice between keeping her powers or letting someone else take her responsibility, Libber would give them up in an instant.

Which is one of the reasons Maya is so wary about the new "trick" Libber showed everyone a few days ago.

* * *

Cole is exhausted.

This is not a new development. Cole is usually exhausted. If nobody woke him up he could probably sleep for over twelve hours straight. And even then, he'd probably still be tired.

Jay is never exhausted. The longest Jay's ever been asleep is maybe six hours. At the most. He has pretty much endless energy. Even when he does get tired, all it takes is a cat nap and a cup of chocolate milk for him to be bouncing off the walls again. Cole has no idea how he does it.

He wishes he had Jay's endless supply of energy right now, though, because in addition to his regular energy deficit, he's also gotten a whopping three hours of sleep in the last two days. All he wants to do is go home and sleep for at least a week, but he'd already promised his father that he'd help him clean out the attic, so guess what he's been doing for the last hour and a half.

He shouldn't be complaining. It actually hasn't been as boring as he thought it would be. Once he got past the fact that there were probably close to a hundred boxes they had to sort through that hadn't been touched since he was seven, Cole almost forgot how tired he was. A lot of the stuff up here had belonged to his mother.

A ghost of a smile appears on Cole's face as he flips through a scrapbook album full of newspaper clippings and pictures from all of his mother's performances.

Lilly was a singer. A really good one, too, according to all the critics. Cole almost didn't recognize her at first when he saw the pictures. He remembered his mom looking much more...tired. But these pictures were taken before she got sick. She looked dazzling, with her hair down and her face done up with make-up. Her face is full of a youth and energy that Cole doesn't remember ever seeing when she was alive.

He turns the page again. This page is full of newspaper clippings reviewing Lilly's performance as Fantine in _Les Misérables_ , which Cole remembers his father telling him, had won her several awards.

There aren't very many pages after that. Just a few smaller gigs here and there that she had done. Judging by the dates, though, this was around the time she started getting sick.

Cole exhales sharply in frustration. "Sick" is as far as anyone had bothered to go while explaining to him what had happened. In all fairness, he now knows that nobody else really knew what was wrong with her either, but someone could have at least told him that.

He sets the scrapbook back in the box it had been in and moves onto the next one.

As much as the idea of getting rid of any of his mother's stuff kills him, Cole knows that there really is no rational reason for them to keep most of the things in these boxes.

Her old guitar with three missing strings that's beyond repair, a really creepy-looking broken china doll, and the set of very dried up watercolor paints can all be thrown away. There are actually several sets of paint, but Cole figures the acrylics at least are salvageable enough that he doesn't have to get rid of them.

The last few boxes are pretty boring—baby clothes from when he was little that his dad for some reason _still_ has, a stack of dusty textbooks on various types of dance styles, a preposterous amount of ancient sheet music that looks like it's about to disintegrate, and a ton of other useless junk.

He's almost done clearing everything out of the attic when he notices he missed a box.

* * *

"Well, Terran and Ezra are both stupid names. You should take those off your list."

"Okay, those are bold words coming from someone named Liberty Castaspella Gordon," Lilly says, rolling her eyes.

"Wait. Your middle name is...Castaspella?" Maya blinks.

"Shut up! I know I have a stupid name. I'm trying to save Lilly's baby from succumbing to the same fate," Libber says earnestly, taking the pad of paper out of Lilly's hands and crossing off the only remaining names on the list.

"What about my baby?" Maya asks.

"We'll give your baby a name after we've named Lilly's," Libber says, waving her hand dismissively.

Lilly sighs. "You've shot down every one of my ideas so far. What do _you_ think I should name the baby?"

Libber hums. "If it's a girl, I think Phoenix would be a really badass name."

"Libs, a Phoenix is a bird with _fire_ powers."

"So?"

" _So_ , that would be a stupid name for an elemental master of _Earth_ to have."

"Well, I like bird names. You should name it after a bird."

"Don't call my baby an _it_."

"But you don't know what gender it is yet."

"The correct pronoun is 'them.'"

"But that makes it sound like there's more than one. Oh my gosh, Lilly, what if you have _twins_?"

"I don't think I'm having twins. I'm pretty sure it's a boy, anyway."

"How do you know?"

"I don't know. I can just tell."

"Ugh, whatever. You can name him whatever you want."

"Wow, really? Thank you for your permission to name my ow-"

"Guys, cut it _out_ ," Maya interrupts tiredly. "How do you manage to turn _everything_ into an argument?"

Libber attempts to say, "it's just our thing," but she only gets the first two words out before she abruptly stops and slams her hands down on the table.

It's silent.

Nobody misses the tiny sparks emitting from the tips of Libber's fingers, or the brief look of panic that comes over her face before she shuts her eyes and quickly reels it back in before she looses control and shoots lightning all over the place.

After a minute Libber exhales and the lightning goes back into her. She shudders, but then looks up like nothing happened. "What are you looking at me like that for?" She laughs. "I have it under control. I just lost focus there for a second. Once I get more used to it, it won't be a problem anymore, okay? It's nothing to worry about, I promise."

Nobody believes her. But nobody says anything either.

Libber clears her throat. "Okay, so what do you think of the name Cassian?"

"It's...okay," Lilly blinks. "A bit too old-fashioned for my taste, though."

* * *

The box is shoved behind a few loose planks in the wall, almost like he was _supposed_ to miss it; like it had been hidden for some reason.

It looks like it's been taped shut several times. The label on the side is really faded and it takes Cole a few minutes to work out what it says. When he finally does, though, the does a double take.

"' _Lightning's stuff_?'" Cole says indecrulously.

He needs to use a pocket knife to cut through the thick layer of duct tape sealing the box shut, otherwise it would take forever to get it all off.

Technically, it's not _that_ far-fetched—Jay's biological mother had been an elemental just like his. Cole had never really thought about it before, but they probably _did_ know each other.

He opens the box, half expecting there to be something terrible.

There isn't, though. There's a blue gi with a pattern of lightning bolts on the overcoat, a few rather extravagant-looking shurikens, a music box that doesn't work, a journal with handwriting that's by some miracle even worse than Jay's and...

Cole lets out a soft gasp. At the bottom of the box, there are two matching necklaces. They're tiny stone dragons, one blue and one black, that when put together form a heart. The black dragon has a tiny sapphire gemstone as the eye, and the blue one's eye is made of onyx—they look like those friendship necklaces you'd find in a mall, except way cooler and by the looks of it, handmade. Handmade _by his mother_. Handmade by his mother _for Jay's mother_.

Cole doesn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, it's rather poetic that he and Jay ended up being best friends too, even though they didn't know that their parents even knew each other. On the other hand, something about that...doesn't sit right with him.

He doesn't remember ever knowing Jay's mom. He has no idea what happened to her. It's perfectly plausible that she left or died or whatever happened to her before he was born or when he was too young to remember. But no one ever thought to mention _anything_ about her? Cole can forgive his father for not telling him about his elemental powers, because that part makes sense. Lilly had done some pretty dangerous stuff as the last master of Earth, and after losing her Lou didn't want anything to happen to Cole either.

But after Cole had figured out about his powers, his dad _still_ never thought to fill him in on anything concerning his mother.

And Master Wu? Master Wu never tells them _anything._

He waited almost _two years_ after he met Kai to tell Nya that she had water powers. He never told Jay that he was adopted. He never mentions _any_ of their parents unless they uncover some huge secret about them that he has no choice but to explain.

And then there was the thing about the box being hidden. Maybe there was something in here that he wasn't supposed to find?

But there's nothing that looks even remotely dangerous. There's no explanation.

Cole sighs. The adrenaline is worn off, and he's beginning to remember how tired he is. He'll worry about it later. For now, he just wants to go home and take a nap.


	2. Tiny Stone Dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to wait for tomorrow to post this, but I’m super impatient so it’s early. I actually have at least a third of this written already, clocking in at 11,000-something words. But I’m trying to post one chapter a week so that I don’t update three chapters in a row and then take a break for six months.
> 
> Anyway. Without further ado, here’s chapter two.

_"Hey, guys, you wanna see the new trick I learned?"_

_This is a completely innocent statement, one that completely sounds like something Libber would say. But there's something about the look on her face that leaves a bad taste in Lilly's mouth. "What are you doing?" She says cautiously._

_Libber smirks. "You might wanna back up."_

_The master of lightning crouches down and rests her fingers on the ground. She closes her eyes, apparently in deep concentration. The heavy wind whips at her hair, but she takes no more notice of that than she does at the rain pounding down on them. A roll of thunder sounds out. Seconds later, a bolt of lightning strikes from the clouds above. But it doesn't hit the lightning rod nearby. It starts to go that way, but then it changes directions._

_It goes..._ into _Libber._

_Her eyes turn blindingly white. There's electricity buzzing all over her skin as she stands up and then focuses all of the energy into her left hand, which she points into the sky and then releases._

_The bolt is so powerful it sends out a shockwave that nearly knocks everyone over. It's more powerful than should be_ possible _—lightning is a very powerful element, but what Liberty just produced is much bigger and more formidable than any bolt of lightning anyone's ever seen before._

_All the lights within what must be at least a five mile radius short out. Everything else powered by electricity is completely fried. They're left in what would be complete darkness if it weren't for the faint glow of the moon from behind the clouds._

_Libber drops to her knees, exhausted and frazzled and drained but_ laughing _. "I'm not the most useless person on the team anymore, huh?"_

* * *

"You found this in _your attic_?"

"For the third time, Jay, yes, I found it in my attic!"

"Why was it in your attic, though?"

Cole reaches into the box and produces the two necklaces he'd found the previous day and wordlessly hands them to Jay.

Jay's jaw drops. "That's...that's...wow," he breathes. "That's weird."

"Weird? It's crazy! I had no idea our moms even knew each other, but apparently they were best friends, too."

Jay grins. "We should wear their necklaces."

Cole blinks. "What? No. That's weird."

"No, it's _crazy_ ," Jay retorts. He slips the blue one on and hands the other one to Cole. "Here, you wear the other one."

"I...I don't think we should."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Cole falters. He doesn't actually know why, but he tries to come up with an excuse anyway. "Friendship necklaces are kind of a _girl_ thing."

Jay tuts and shakes his head in mock disappointment. "Do I need to go get Nya so she can lecture you on the dangers of fragile masculinity?"

Cole rolls his eyes. "No."

"Then what's the real problem?"

"I...don't...know," Cole stammers. "It just...feels weird."

"Is it some self-esteem imposter syndrome thing where you don't think you're worthy enough to own anything that belonged to your mom?" Jay asks casually.

Cole silently curses the blue ninja for being able to read him so well. "Whatever," he grumbles. He takes the necklace from Jay and puts it on. "There. Are you happy?"

Jay gives him a thumbs up and continues rifling through the box. He picks up the journal and flips through it. "Wow, her handwriting was even worse than mine is!" he exclaims.

"I know! I thought the same thing! Can you read it?"

Jay squints. "A little bit. It's very...loopy."

"'Loopy'?" Cole repeats, amused.

"Not loopy like silly, loopy like there's a bunch of loops," Jay clarifies indignantly.

There are no dates and no discernable paragraphs. The writing doesn't even go in a straight line. It's just scrawled in every direction, in between all the tiny doodles in the margins and even some extra on sticky notes, seemingly added in as an afterthought.

"She was probably dyslexic," Jay speculates. "I have dyslexia too; it's just not this bad." He turns the notebook sideways to look at some of the writing in the margins. "I'll probably be able to figure it out, though. That would be really cool." His eyes light up. "That would be _so_ cool! It would almost be like meeting her!"

Cole's a little saddened by that statement, but Jay seems to be in a really good mood. He hums, flipping through the pages and looking at all the little doodles scattered about in the writing. Then he suddenly stops and his jaw drops open again.

"What is it?" Cole asks.

Jay hands the notebook back to Cole. "I think your mom drew that," he says, pointing at a page with a very intricate portrait of a border collie.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because her name is signed at the bottom."

"Oh."

Sure enough, the signature at the bottom reads "Lilly."

Cole stares at it, taking note of the brilliant cross-hatching she used in the shadows, a technique he hasn't been able to get quite right in his own drawings. "That's..." he mumbles. "That's...wow."

"You wanna rip that page out and keep it?" Jay offers.

Cole looks up in surprise. "Are you sure?" he clarifies. "There's stuff written on the back."

"Yeah, it's okay. You can have it."

"Thank you!" Cole says gratefully. He carefully tears the page out, making sure he doesn't rip the drawing, and stares at it again in awe.

"I didn't know your mom was an artist," Jay remarks.

"Me neither," Cole admits. "I remember she liked to draw sometimes, but I don't think I remember seeing any of her art. This is...cool."

"Yeah. Cool."

* * *

"You _still_ don't have a name? You have to make a decision soon, Lilly, he's due in like, a week."

"No, actually, I've still got at least another month to go," Lilly corrects. "I'm at about week 34 right now."

"That's a lot of weeks," Libber remarks.

"Not that many, actually. It feels like a lot right now, but if you think about it, it's kind of incredible that creating an entire new human being only takes about nine months. It's _amazing_ ," Lilly breathes.

"Seriously? You're not even a little bit impatient?"

"Oh, I am. Yesterday night he kept kicking when I was trying to sleep and I yelled at him to get the heck out of there already," Lilly confesses, which makes Libber laugh. "But I know he's going to be worth it."

Libber smiles. "You're gonna be a good mom, Lilly."

"Well, I've had plenty of practice."

"What? With who?"

"You, you baby," Lilly says, flicking Libber in the forehead.

Libber makes an offended-sounding noise and lightly shoves Lilly back. Then she sighs and leans back on the couch. "I _am_ a baby," she says.

"Uh...okay?"

"I just mean, everyone else is moving on with their lives. You and Maya are both married and pregnant, I haven't even gone on my honeymoon yet."

"You could, you know. Things have seemed pretty quiet recently. I think we could manage without you for a bit."

Libber hesitates. "I don't think it's really necessary, actually."

"What? Libs, you're allowed to have a honeymoon."

"I thought you hated Cliff."

Lilly draws in a sharp breath. "I...will not deny that last statement, but he is your husband now. Kind of. It was a Vegas wedding..."

"What's wrong with Vegas weddings?"

"Nothing." Lilly sighs. "I'm sorry. I need to do a better job of respecting your decisions even when I don't agree with them. But anyway, if you want to go on a honeymoon, you're absolutely allowed to. We can hold down the fort while you're gone."

"But you're _pregnant_."

"Pregnant. Not useless," Lilly reminds her sternly.

Libber shrugs. "Maybe. I'll think about it."

It's quiet. Libber fiddles with her necklace, running her thumb over the onyx gem in the eye of the dragon.

"We've known each other a long time," she says.

"Yeah, we have."

"Remember when you made these necklaces for us? That was such a long time ago. You were like, a _baby_."

Lilly chuckles. "I'm pretty sure I was 14."

"You were a baby 14-year-old."

"Sure. You're a baby 23-year-old."

"Yeah. You're not a baby anymore, though."

"When did I stop being a baby?"

Libber blinks, then furrows her brows as if she's deep in thought, and taking this question very seriously. "I...don't know," she says finally, in a voice so soft it's almost a whisper. "I don't remember."

* * *

Jay feels selfish.

He loves his parents; his _adoptive_ parents who raised him, but ever since learning he was ~~abandoned~~ adopted, he's felt this sort of uncomfortable restlessness every time he thinks about them. There are just so many unanswered questions...why did his biological parents give him up? Why did they leave him with Ed and Edna specifically? Why didn't they just work with an adoption agency if they weren't going to keep him? What happened to them after they left him?

He doubts he's going to find the answers to any of _those_ questions, but it'll still be really cool to go through his mom's stuff, since he knows practically nothing about her.

Jay drops the box on his bed and opens it again, absent-mindedly reaching up to grab the necklace he'd put on earlier. He pauses.

Earlier it had seemed like a good idea; a way to honor both he and Cole's mothers and their friendship. But he's starting to share in Cole's hesitation on the matter. It feels almost...intrusive. He examines the intricate detail on the tiny stone dragon and frowns. Maybe he _shouldn't_ be wearing it. After all, he doesn't even _know_ anything about his mom. Maybe she wasn't the kind of person he'd like to honor. He swallows and tucks it under his shirt. The stone feels cold against his chest and he shivers for a moment before pushing it out of his mind and going back to the cardboard box.

He picks up the journal and flips through it again. His mother's handwriting is almost completely illegible, but he can make some of it out—the first few pages are easier to read because the text is in straight lines instead of scrawled all over the place. He lays down on his stomach on his bed and creases the pages open.

"'Lilly is the most irritating person on the planet,'" he reads out loud, amused. "Huh. I guess that's just a trait of elemental masters of earth. 'Next on the roster, in this order in particular, are Ray, Wu, and Garmadon. Although, Ray and Lilly are actually pretty much tied for first place. I can't stand either of them.'"

Jay grins. The current elemental masters of earth and fire are _also_ the most irritating people on the planet.

_I suppose Lilly gets a pass on that one, though, because she's my best friend. I tend to accidently befriend a lot of irritating people. Unfortunately, I don't really get a choice with most of them. Because my father was the previous master of lighting, I am now bound by destiny to do whatever Wu tells me to or some b.s. like that. I dunno. It doesn't seem like I'm very important anyway. I don't know what their deal is. They treat me like I just get in everyone's way all the time, but if I tried to leave they'd be like, "no, we need you, you're too convenient to have around, even though we don't even like you anyway!" Obviously nobody's ever said those exact words, but I know it's true. Lilly is the only one who actually might care about me, but she found out yesterday that she was pregnant, so once she has the baby I'm probably not even going to be a blip on her radar. I guess I shouldn't be blaming them. It's not like it's their fault that I'm such a screw-up. I wouldn't want to deal with me either if I were them._

Jay blinks, a little caught off-guard at what he's just read. He'd always pictured his mother to be someone super mature and confident and awesome, but apparently she was just as angsty and doubtful of herself as he is.

He flips through the notebook again. There are only a few more diary-entry-like pages in it, each of them as self-deprecating as the first one. On page five, though, everything starts to get messy.

He squints at the lettering on the page. It takes him a minute to make out what the header says. "'Test one,'" he reads, confused. "Test for what?"

The rest of the words on the page are written sideways and looped around and choppy, and Jay spends the next five minutes trying to decipher her disastrous handwriting.

_theory was correct: rechanneling is possible, even if it doesn't work like i'd thought it would_

_is it even possible for anyone else to do? lightning is pretty much pure energy and other elements cant be harnessed like that_

_next time try for a whole minute_

_controlling it while supercharged is a lot harder than i'd thought it would be_

_outcome successful. now i just have to find out to to use it_

Jay furrows his brows, confused. What was she talking about?

He flips through a few more pages, scanning them for any kind of explanation, until he lands on a folded-up drawing more intricate than the other lazy doodles on the other pages.

It's not good enough to have been drawn by Lilly, but it's still pretty impressive.

And it's a self-portrait, Jay realizes with a start. He's never seen a picture of his mother, but he's certain that's what this is. The figure has her hand extended into the sky, and her eyes stare straight ahead, although they're all white and seemingly glowing.

Stranger, though, is that the bolt of lightning above her doesn't seem to be coming out of her hand. It's thicker at the top, which implies that it came from the sky.

Jay flips back to the scattered notes on page five for a minute and then returns to the drawing. She's not shooting lightning out of her hand. She's not just controlling it, either.

She's _absorbing_ it.


	3. Like a Living Battery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should issue a warning that this chapter is like, SUPER angsty. Both Jay and Libber are really self-destructive and in denial that anything's wrong. There's a lot of angst in this book anyway, but I guess the thing that makes this chapter different is that there aren't any funny scenes to soften the blow. It's all just...Bad Things.
> 
> Also, I've finally decided on an update schedule. I'll post a new chapter every Tuesday and Thursday. Unless of course I get behind, but I hope that won't happen.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To Ignatia. That's where the next episodes are being filmed, Libs. I've told you this already."

"You did? When?"

"I've told you practically every night this week, babe. Are you feeling okay?" Cliff looks up briefly at his wife, who's sitting at the kitchen counter in a bathrobe with dark circles under her eyes.

"Yeah," she sighs, rubbing her temples. "Just a migraine. Sorry. When are you coming back?"

"It'll only be for a week or two. I won't be gone that long, okay? See you later, hon." He plants a kiss on the top of Libber's head and then leaves without another word.

The power is still out, but that's not a problem, since Libber doesn't plan on turning on any lights any time soon. She groans and rests her head in her hands for a few minutes before she remembers that Advil exists and trudges over to the bathroom cupboard where they keep the medicine.

She's exhausted.

That's nobody's fault but hers, of course, but that doesn't stop her from collapsing on the couch in the dark to mope around and feel sorry for herself.

She grabs the notebook she left on the coffee table last night; she hadn't gotten very far in writing notes after she had overloaded herself and passed out in the middle of a thunderstorm for a few hours. She had fallen asleep on the _other_ couch on the other side of the room while still drenched in rain once she had finally come back home at about two in the morning. Cliff hadn't really said much on the matter except that he was going to have to replace the couch because she got mud all over it.

Somehow she'd managed to take a shower, but Libber is definitely not getting anything else done today. This headache is making all the hangovers she's ever had feel like stubbed toes in comparison to a broken bone.

She stares at the blank page for a moment before scribbling the words, "don't overdo it," and tossing her notebook on the ground.

"I'm such an idiot," she mumbles into a pillow. "Even though I don't know what I did."

She really doesn't know what happened. The only thing she did differently this time was keep the bolt inside of her for two minutes instead of one. Nothing bad should have happened. She's the master of lightning, she should be able to handle it. But one moment she was supercharged and energized and ridiculously powerful, and the next she was spitting mud out of her mouth because she'd collapsed face-first into the ground.

It's fine, though! This is just part of any experiment. Next time, she'll be more careful.

Sushi hops up next to her on the couch and curls up into her side, which makes her smile a bit. "Hey, puppers," she mumbles. Sushi licks her hand in response.

Libber sighs and buries her head in the pillow again. She gets about three minutes of silence before someone knocks on the door.

She groans and rolls off the couch, nearly hitting her head on the coffee table (and thanking whatever all-powerful entity that may be out there that she didn't, because she doesn't think she would have been able to get up if she did). She hoists herself to her feet and drags herself across the room to the door. "Hey," she says sleepily, squinting at the sunlight when she opens the door. "Cliff isn't here, you wanna leave a message?"

"No. It's me, Libs," says Lilly.

Libber blinks stupidly. "Oh. Hey."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just forgot to tell you I'm taking a day off. I've just got a really bad headache," she slurs.

"Do you need help with anything?"

"No! No, that's fine. You worry too much, Tiger Lilly. I think your maternal instincts are kicking in too early. You can go back home." She starts to close the door but Lilly stops her.

"I'm coming in," she says stubbornly.

"What? No! Why would you- I just told you I didn't need you to do that!"

"Yeah, I know, but judging by the fact that everything electrically-powered in the entire city seems to have overloaded, I have a slight suspicion that I know where your headache came from." Lilly closes the door behind her and raises an eyebrow at Libber.

Libber groans. "Lilly. You're pregnant. You really don't need to take care of me. I'm fi-" she cuts herself off abruptly as her knees start to buckle underneath her. She would have fallen over if Lilly hadn't caught her and guided (well, more like carried) her to the couch.

Lilly wordlessly tosses a blanket over Libber and scratches Sushi's chin, then exhales sharply and stands up straighter. "Libber, I told you you needed to stop doing this," she says in a low voice.

Libber giggles nervously. "What are you doing here? Practicing your mom-lecturing skills?"

"Libber, this is serious. You could have gotten yourself _killed_."

"No I couldn't have! I'm the master of lightning! It can't hurt me!"

"Liberty, absorbing a bolt of pure lightning into your body is _not a good idea_ , whether you're the master of lightning or not! This is ridiculous! You have to stop it!"

"This is the first time anything bad has happened," Libber says coolly. "I went too far. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I'll be more careful."

"Damn right you will! Because you're not ever going to do it again!"

"You're overreacting!"

"No I'm not! You're the one who thinks she can absorb billions of watts of energy into her body without any consequences!"

Libber winces. "Please stop yelling," she mutters, burying her face in the pillow again.

Lilly sighs, sitting down next to Libber on the couch. "I'm sorry," she says after a moment. "Just, please promise me you'll stop. I don't care if it makes us more 'efficient', okay? It's hurting you and I don't like it."

"I promise I'll be more careful," Libber says.

Lilly either doesn't notice the particular wording of her response or is too tired to argue, because she just whispers, "good," and drops the subject.

* * *

Jay takes a deep breath and places his fingertips on the ground. "Okay, so I just..." he murmurs to himself. He's still not really sure what he's supposed to be doing. He's been hit by lightning plenty of times. How is this supposed to be any different?

He takes another deep breath, adopting a sort of meditative breathing pattern as he tries to focus on the raw, tangled energy he's sensing through the ground. His fingertips are emitting tiny amounts of electricity into the air, which is weird, because he's not doing it on purpose. Sometimes he zaps things on accident, but he's usually in complete control of his powers when he's focusing this hard on them.

Another bolt of lightning strikes the ground in front of him. The storm seems to be getting worse. The thunder's getting louder. The lightning's getting more frequent. Jay closes his eyes and imagines himself drawing all of that lightning inwards. It's the exact opposite of the way he usually uses his powers—instead of producing lightning, he's taking it in.

The first bolt catches him by surprise, especially because he still wasn't completely sure it was going to work at all. It's a very... _unexpected_ sensation, to say the least.

All at once, it's as if every cell in his body has been harshly jolted awake. He lets out a sharp yelp and his eyes shoot open as he feels the bolt rush through his blood and for a moment it feels like his insides are on fire.

It's so startling he expels it after only a second. Which is probably what most people would do if they had a lightning bolt inside of them, anyway.

Jay swallows. He has to take a minute to catch his breath again. Once the shock and pain have worn off, he's left with an enormous burst of energy. It's as if he's never been tired and his life, and he'll never be tired again. He's tempted to shoot lightning into the air to see how much more powerful that one bolt made him, but instead he presses his fingertips into the ground again and calls another bolt to him.

This time he keeps it a little longer, maybe five seconds, until he lets go and it leaves through his fingertips with even more force than it came.

Now he knows what his mom meant by feeling "supercharged." He has _never_ felt so energized. But he doesn't feel like bouncing off of the walls like he would if he'd just drank a bunch of coffee. This energy is calm. The hair on his arms is standing up, his fingertips are buzzing with sparks, there's energy pulsing through his veins and Jay has _never felt so powerful._

With all his might, he sends a bolt down the hill and it catches what must be at least twenty trees on fire and runs through their roots into the ground. It's raining hard enough that he doesn't start a forest fire, which is good because it would have been pretty embarrassing if he'd had to go wake Nya up in the middle of the night to ask her to put the fire out.

Jay sends another bolt straight up into the sky, and it acts almost as a firework; it spreads across the sky in a jagged pattern, lighting up the field for a few moments in a spectacular display.

Surprisingly, the supercharged feeling wears off fairly quickly. After a few more experimental lightning bolts, Jay suddenly feels very tired and he drops to his knees again, gasping for breath.

"Well. That was fun," he mumbles, grinning despite the exhaustion and weird leftover burning he feels.

This could definitely be useful. He can't believe he's never thought of it before, but it makes perfect sense—he's pretty much a living battery. He not only can _control_ lightning, but he can use it to supercharge his powers, because it's pure energy and he can handle absorbing it.

He lays down in the grass for a few minutes to catch his breath before going back home.

* * *

Cole stands hunched over the bathroom sink as he stares at himself in the mirror.

Not the way Kai stares at himself in the mirror, though—Kai's staring in the mirror includes much more winking and finger-guns.

This is not a very pleasant kind of staring at yourself in the mirror. His eyes graze over the various scars he's gotten from certain battles—he can't remember where they all came from individually (unlike Kai, who weirdly remembers where every single scar on him came from) and most of them are pretty hard to spot because his super-strength gives him a healing factor that patches wounds up much quicker than anyone else.

He stares at the dragon necklace he's wearing. It feels cold on his bare skin and he absent-mindedly takes it in his hand, running his thumb over the intricate details that decorate it. He barely remembers his mother.

Which is ridiculous, because she died when he was thirteen. It's not like he was a little kid when she died.

Granted, most of the time in the last few years of her life was spent in the hospital, so that made sense. Cole didn't have time to go visit her every day, but God, he wishes he had anyway. He would give anything to see her again.

His fist closes around the dragon and his eyes tear away from the mirror. He still hasn't been able to shake the odd feeling he's had since he found the necklaces in the first place. Something still doesn't make sense. Logically, he should just ask Master Wu. He would know after all, wouldn't he? But there's something stopping him from doing that. He has this strange feeling that Wu wouldn't react very well.

Cole takes the necklace off and puts it in his pocket. He doesn't want to look at it anymore.


	4. Fifteen Seconds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Let's just not mention the fact that it's not Tuesday yet, okay? I've had this chapter written for like two weeks at this point and I was getting impatient.)
> 
> We get to meet baby Cole in this chapter! :D

"Wait, wait, wait. Is his name a pun?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Cole. Like coal, the rock? Because he's gonna be the next master of earth?"

Lilly snorts. "No. Lou named him. It wasn't intentional." She smiles down adoringly at the sleeping, barely week-old baby in her arms. "Isn't he perfect?" she breathes.

Libber leans against her arm. "He's so _tiny_ ," she says. "The palms of his hands are the size of my thumbs."

"Well, yeah. He's only a week old. Do you wanna hold him?"

"Are you sure you want me holding your baby?" Libber chuckles nervously. "He's so little, I'm afraid I'm gonna break him."

"I trust you," Lilly says. "I know you'll be careful. Only if you want to, though."

Libber exhales. "Okay."

Lilly carefully hands Cole over to Libber. "Make sure you support his head," she says.

Cole starts to whine as Libber takes him, but as soon as she holds him securely against her chest, he falls back asleep almost instantly. Libber swallows. He's even smaller than Sushi was when she first got him. According to Lilly, Cole's only six pounds. Sushi was almost _twice_ that size as a puppy. "Lilly," she whispers. "His baby fingernails are _so tiny_."

"I know," Lilly whispers back. "Everything about him is so tiny."

"How have you slept the past week?"

Lilly chuckles and shakes her head. "Not that great. He wants to be held _all the time_. If you put him down even for a second, he starts crying. Also, for some reason he makes this...weird chattery squealing noise. It's usually really cute, but it tends to lose its charm when it's three o'clock in the morning."

Libber pauses. "Hey, Lilly?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I would make a good mom?"

Lilly hesitates. "Well..."

Libber snorts. "Wow, thanks."

"No, I just mean—I trust you with Cole, but I don't know about you taking care of a baby all by yourself. You're pretty absent-minded. You might forget about them."

"I...you're probably not wrong," Libber sighs.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not pregnant."

Libber blinks. "Yeah," she says. "Good thing."

Her period is only a week and a half late so far. _It'll be fine,_ she thinks. _It's late sometimes. I 'll get it in another week or so._

She doesn't.

* * *

It has been three weeks since Cole found the box of Libber's stuff, which contained absolutely nothing dangerous or suspicious whatsoever.

It has been three weeks of so little going wrong it's practically boring—there have been no reason for any of them to worry about anything.

It has been three weeks of Cole's increasing suspicion that neither of the above things are true.

He stares in disbelief as Jay's avatar in Fist to Face 2 walks right past the hidden entrance to the secret level. Jay _never_ walks right past the entrance to the secret level. Most of the time the only reason he even plays that game is to go and find the secret level because he thinks it's so cool.

The level itself is nothing too out of the ordinary, but Jay found it without knowing anything about it and then proceeded to claim that it was his greatest accomplishment. He bragged about it for weeks afterwards.

Not that Cole cares about it that much anyway. It was cool at first, but he eventually got bored with it because Jay always refuses to skip over it and they have to play through it every time. Until now, that is.

Which is why it's so strange that he doesn't even mention it now, as his avatar walks right past the entrance and into the next level in the game. Jay realizes Cole staring at him and looks back with a concerned expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" he asks, apparently completely oblivious to what just happened.

"I..." Cole swallows. "No. Nothing's wrong."

Jay shrugs and refocuses his attention on the game.

"Actually, I..." Cole sets his controller down. "I'm done playing for now."

"Okay," Jay responds, without looking up.

Which is also rather out of the ordinary. Usually he would have tried to convince Cole to stay. Usually he would have whined and asked for at least ten more minutes, because according to Jay, the NPCs are really annoying and it's much more fun playing with someone else.

But he doesn't say anything.

Cole exhales sharply and walks out of the room. This is getting really weird now. For the most part, Jay's acting completely normal. There's nothing obviously wrong. He's still his same weird, random, awkward self. But for the last few weeks, Cole has been picking up more and more on tiny details, brief instances that indicate that something is just a _little_ off. A _little_ strange. A _little_ out of character.

He opens the door to the courtyard. "Hey, Zane?" he asks. "Have you noticed anything weird about Jay lately?"

Zane blinks. "No, I have not. Why?"

"Seriously? You don't think he's acting even a _little_ weird?"

Zane shakes his head. "I have not detected any abnormalities in his behavior, Cole. Would you care to elaborate?"

"I...he just..." Cole falters. "I don't know how to explain it exactly. He keeps forgetting things, things that he would never forget normally. Like, just now, we were playing Fist to Face 2, and he completely missed the secret level. He didn't even mention it."

"I don't know why that would be any cause for concern," Zane says. "What do you think is wrong with him?"

"I...well that's the thing. I have no idea. I just have this gut feeling that something isn't right."

"I don't have guts," says Zane.

"You're right," says Cole. "I'm gonna go ask somebody with internal organs."

Zane looks slightly offended by that statement, but he doesn't say anything more on the matter.

When Cole goes back inside, the game is turned off and Jay isn't there. He absent-mindedly reaches up and touches the dragon necklace he's wearing under his shirt and huffs. He's not imagining things. There's something wrong, he can tell.

The door to Jay's room is cracked closed a few inches more than it usually is. Cole tentatively knocks on his door. "Hey, Jay," he says. "Can I come in?"

There's a shuffling noise before Jay answers. "Yeah, sure!"

The contents of Libber's box are spread across the floor. Jay has a screwdriver in one hand and the music box in the other. "What are you doing?" Cole asks.

"I'm trying to fix this. I think there's something wrong with the gears, but the bottom compartment is jammed shut," he explains.

Cole sits on the floor next to him, watching as Jay unscrews the bolts on the bottom of the box while sticking the tip of his tongue out of his mouth in concentration. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"What? Of course I'm okay."

"You've just been acting kind of weird lately."

"Well, if you'd just been given a box of stuff that belonged to your dead mother who you've never met, you'd probably act a little different too," Jay shrugs.

Well. That does make sense. "Yeah, I guess so," Cole says slowly.

"You got to meet your mom," says Jay, in a voice trying to sound nonchalant.

"Yeah. I did." Cole reaches up to feel the necklace under his shirt again. "I'm sorry. That's not fair."

Jay shrugs again. "Fair? Fair isn't a word where I come from," he says in his spacefarer voice.

Cole blinks. "Yeah."

It isn't until much later that night when Cole realizes what was wrong with that statement.

That isn't the word. The word is ' _fear_.'

Jay had gotten the line wrong.

* * *

Libber stares at the two little lines on the pregnancy test in her hands in horror. She can't be pregnant. She _can't_ be. How could it have happened anyway? She and Cliff had been careful. They always used protection.

What is she gonna do? It was an accident—Cliff won't be mad at her, right? It wasn't her fault.

"It'll be fine," she murmurs. "It's fine. I can do it."

It isn't that she doesn't want a baby. She adores Cole and loves helping Lilly take care of him. She loves babies—they're so cute and tiny and cuddly and she would _love_ to have a kid of her own. But...she can't do it. Lilly had said herself that she would be a terrible mother. She's not responsible enough to have a baby. Not to mention, she's not sure if the absorbing electricity thing she does would-

"Hey, Libber?" Cliff knocks on the door to the bathroom

"Y-yeah?"

"Your dog keeps scratching on the front door. Can you take it on a walk or something? I'm trying to practice my lines and it's distracting."

Libber swallows. "Yeah. I'll take him out." She tucks the pregnancy test in her pocket and opens the door. "Um," she mumbles. "Can I talk to you about something first?"

"Can it wait? I'm kinda in the middle of something," Cliff says.

"Oh. Yeah, that's...that's fine. I'll tell you later."

"Cool. See you later, baby."

"Yeah," Libber says.

She can't remember walking all the way there, but somehow she finds herself in the middle of the woods with Sushi, lying on her back staring at the treetops with her hands placed over her lower stomach.

"What am I gonna do, Sushi?"

Sushi doesn't seem to have an answer for her. He licks her on the cheek a few times and then curls up against her side.

Libber sighs. She might have stayed there for the rest of the day (maybe even longer than that, actually) if Ray hadn't found her.

" _There_ you are," he says, sounding a little irritated. "Maya told me to come find you."

"Why didn't she come find me herself?" Libber mumbles.

"Because she's pregnant and she has better things to do than wander around the woods looking for an idiot," Ray retorts.

"What do you want, Ray?"

"Maya wanted me to let you know that we'll be leaving in a week or two an-"

"Leaving?" Libber sits up. "What are you talking about?"

Ray looks at her. "We're moving, Libber. I told you that yesterday."

"You..."

Libber chokes on her own spit. It takes her a moment before she's able to talk again.

Ignoring the look on Ray's face, Libber sputters, "you _what_? You didn't tell me that!"

"Yes I did," Ray says flatly. "You acted just as surprised yesterday as you are now."

"I..." Libber runs her hands through her hair. "I don't...I don't remember..."

Ray stares at her for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"I..." Libber blinks. "I don't remember."

* * *

"I _told_ you something was wrong!" Cole announces triumphantly. He slams his hands down on the table, which everyone but Jay is sitting at. "Jay put his ice-cream in the microwave for _ten seconds_ after dinner _._ "

Everyone stares blankly at him for a moment.

"Doesn't Jay always put his ice-cream in the microwave before he eats it? Because of his 'sensitive teeth?'" Kai asks.

"Yes, he does. But Jay always puts his ice-cream in the microwave for _fifteen_ seconds."

"Wha-" Kai shakes his head. "Okay, now you're just making stuff up."

"No, it's true! The real Jay would never forget those extra five seconds! Doesn't that seem weird to anyone?"

"The weird thing is that you would know that in the first place," Kai scoffs.

"It's not just that! He also got his favorite Fritz Donegan quote wrong. _And_ he left Mr. Cuddlywomps in the living room overnight. _And_ he forgot about the secret level in our favorite video game! He completely missed it and didn't even notice when we were playing it last night! _None_ of that seems weird to anyone else? Come on, you've _had_ to have noticed something weird about him lately."

Nya blinks. "Cole, none of those things are that out of the ordinary. I agree he's seemed a _little_ out of it, but I don't think that forgetting a few things is any reason for you to freak out. And I mean, don't you think _I_ would have noticed if there was something really weird going on with him? After all, he _is_ my boyfriend."

"But he's my _best_ friend," Cole challenges. "And I've known him for way longer than any of you!"

"Actually, Cole, I believe I've known Jay for about the same amount of time that you have," Zane points out.

"Well...yeah," Cole stutters, "but you're not his best friend. _I'm_ his best friend. I know him better than any of you! I know tons of things about Jay that you don't!"

"Like what?" Nya crosses her arms.

"Apparently, like how he always puts his ice-cream in the microwave for 15 seconds. I can't believe I'm the only one that knew that. A ton of other things too, but I mean, a lot of it is pretty personal and I don't think he'd appreciate me telling you guys all of his deepest darkest secrets."

"Right, as if Jay would tell you things that he wouldn't even tell _me_ ," Nya scoffs. "I'd like to hear some of this stuff."

"We're getting off topic," Cole pleads. "You guys have to listen to me. There's something really weird going on, I can tell. Can you at least give me the benefit of the doubt? I mean, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but what if I'm right?"

"Okay, well, what do you want us to do?" Lloyd asks.

Cole exhales. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe there is nothing to worry about. But, I mean, just in case-"

"We'll keep an eye on him, Cole," Zane says gently, which seems to calm the black ninja down a bit. "I promise we won't let anything happen to him."

"Thank you," Cole replies.

Except...there's a part of him that feels like it's too late for that. Something already happened.

* * *

"It's been raining a lot the last few weeks," Zane remarks, looking out the window at the dreary grey sky and heavy clouds.

"I know," Kai moans. "It's _terrible_. Nya, can you make it stop raining?"

"Kai, that's like telling Cole to make rocks disappear," Nya says flatly. "I'm not a _sponge_. It's not like you could stop a forest fire by like, _absorbing_ the fire."

Kai looks like he's about to say something else, but before he can Jay asks, "hey Zane, what's the weather gonna be like tonight?"

Zane pulls his attention away from the window to look at Jay. It's been a little less than three weeks since Cole had expressed his concerns about the blue ninja to everyone, and always true to his word, Zane's been keeping a closer eye on him. Unfortunately, he still hasn't seen any behavioral patterns that would indicate that anything's wrong with him.

"Tonight? According to my sensors, there's going to be another thunder storm."

" _Again?"_ Nya asks. "That's like the fifth time this month!"

"I like thunder storms," Jay says absently.

"You used to be afraid of them," Zane says innocently, which makes Jay blush and Kai laugh so hard he falls out of his chair.

"Wait, _seriously_?" he wheezes. "The master of lightning used to be afraid of _thunder_?"

"Zane!" Jay hisses. "Why'd you tell them that?"

"I didn't know Kai would find it so amusing. It seems almost as ironic that the master of fire used to be afraid of water," Zane replies, which shuts Kai up. This time, Nya's the one who falls out of her chair laughing. Zane looks rather confused.

Jay clears his throat and stands up. "Well, I'm gonna go a-"

He doesn't finish his sentence.

Jay stumbles backwards into a cinderblock wall when his surroundings change.

The rainy sky outside the windows is replaced by a murky dark purple color with lavender stars scattered throughout it, accented by magenta and turquoise nebulas and a milky white moon with purple stirred into it.

Jay's standing on a beach with pale sand that's almost white and black waves lapping the shore. Behind him is a tower built out of cold grey cinderblocks with black vines growing on it.

He almost forgets to be scared. Everything feels...slow. His mind is almost as murky as the dark purple skies that drape this strange place. Jay suddenly feels very tired. He could just...lie down and take a nap. Right here. It's so serene and beautiful and-

"Wake up, Jay," somebody says from behind him.

"What?"

"I said, wake _up_."

He turns around to try and find where the voice is coming from, but he seems to be completely alone. "Where am I?" he asks.

There's a weighted pause before the voice behind him answers, "you're in the In Between."

**Snap.**

"Jay? You okay?"

"Huh?" Jay looks up at Nya, who's looking back at him with a concerned expression on her face.

"You just stopped talking mid-word and then completely zoned out," she says. "Are you okay?"

Jay blinks. "Yeah, I'm fine," he says. "Sorry about that."


	5. A Jar Full of Perfects

Lilly had been awake anyway, but it was still a bit unsettling when the doorbell rang nearly six hours after the sun went down. Worryingly, but not surprisingly, it's Libber that's standing on her doorstep in a thin jacket in below freezing weather. "Libber?" Lilly says indecrulously. "What the heck are you doing here?"

Libber stares back at her. "I was...on a walk."

"At 11 o'clock at night?"

"Yes."

"During a snowstorm?"

"Yes."

"With no hat or gloves or scarf?"

"Yes."

"While you're _pregnant_?"

Libber doesn't respond to that one. It's been about four months since she'd told everyone the news. Lilly had profusely apologized for implying that she'd be a bad mother, and had assured her that she'd give her all the help she needed and that she was so excited for their kids to grow up together.

Cliff had shrugged and said, "if you wanna keep it, you can, but I'm not changing any diapers." Which, all things considered, was about as good a reaction from him as Libber could hope for.

Libber looks down at her baby bump, then at Cole, who's asleep with his head on Lilly's shoulder, then at Lilly. Then she promptly bursts into tears.

"What was I _thinking_?" she wails. "I can't have a baby!"

Lilly guides Libber in to the kitchen. "Hey. You're gonna be alright," she says gently, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to the lightning master.

Libber downs the whole thing in one gulp and slams the cup back on the table like she'd just taken a shot of whiskey instead of green tea. "I'm gonna be such a _bad mom_ , Lilly," she continues. "Look at me! I'm a disaster!"

"You're not a disaster," Lilly assures her, although her tone holds a small amount of hesitancy. In her defense, Libber really _does_ look like a disaster right now. Her hair is all frizzy and tangled from being blown around in the wind, her cheeks and nose are bright red, and there are still tears streaming down her cheeks.

Lilly just stands there for a moment, not really sure what to do. "Hey, Libs," she says finally.

"Yeah?"

"Do you wanna hold Cole?"

Libber sniffs. "I bet I’m gonna make him cry."

"Well, even if you do, that’s okay. Babies cry all the time. It's nothing you can't handle." Lilly winks and sits down next to her. "Here."

Libber awkwardly takes Cole from Lilly and cradles him in her arms, hiccupping softly as she begins to calm down. "H-hey," she says.

The baby looks back at her with wide, dark brown eyes. His tiny hand reaches up and grabs a fistful of her hair and stares at it as if it's the most interesting he's ever seen.

Libber giggles through her tears and gently unwraps his hand from her hair. He grabs onto her thumb instead. She swallows.

She wants this. She wants this so bad. She wants to be a mother. She wants to have a baby and take care of them and sing to them and already she can tell the tiny human inside of her is going to be her entire world, but...

Libber gasps sharply as the electricity pulsing through her veins starts to buzz under her skin and she hurriedly shoves Cole back at Lilly before she looses it and electrocutes him. She swallows and makes her hands into fists as she coaxes the wild sparks beginning to escape her hands back into her.

"I'm sorry," she says, her voice suddenly void of emotion. "I have to go."

She leaves.

* * *

Jay takes a deep breath, shuddering as he surveys his surroundings. He's standing in an empty room with tall white walls and a glass ceiling, ankle-deep in what looks like black water.

It doesn't look anything like the place he was in last time he blipped out of reality—yet somehow he feels almost certain that he's in the exact same spot. This time he doesn't feel so calm, though.

Normally Jay isn't claustrophobic, but the fact that there aren't any doors and that the water is now _knee_ deep is making him just a _little_ bit worried.

He stumbles backwards, but the water makes him lose his balance and he falls over. He accidentally swallows a mouthful of it. It tastes exactly like regular water, but both the surprise and the fact that it's black make him choke on it.

Jay struggles to stand up so that he can breathe above the rapidly growing supply of water.

Panicked, he tries to look for a way out, but there isn't so much as a crack in any of the walls or the ceiling. He's so disoriented he's not even phased when the same voice he heard last time speaks again.

"I've been watching you, Jay, for some time now," it says in its unrecognizable, distorted tone that reminds Jay of Samurai X. "You're the only one who can help me. I need you to go back under."

"What?" he sputters. "No! I'll drown!"

"We're running out of time," the voice says impatiently. "Go back under."

"Wha- what do you mean by 'we'?" Jay asks, as if that's really important right now.

The voice sighs. "Never mind. Just, open the box when you get back, please. It's important."

**Snap.**

Just before the last bit of empty space in the room fills up, Jay gasps sharply as he falls out of bed.

He's completely dry. There's absolutely no evidence that he was just drowning two seconds ago.

Jay stays on the ground for a few minutes, catching his breath as he tries to process what just happened.

If anything actually _did_ just happen.

Had he fallen asleep after he laid down to try to get rid of his headache? Maybe it had just been a dream.

He would have thought about that for a while longer had it not been for the peal of thunder and flash of lightning that draw his attention from what just happened.

Jay sits up and grins.

_Let's do this_ , he thinks.

* * *

Libber hasn't seen Lilly since she'd shown up at her house at 11 o'clock a few weeks ago. She doesn't remember ever feeling so _lonely_. The only person she really talks to anymore is Sushi, who she's not even sure counts as a person.

The vast majority of her time lately has been spent wandering aimlessly around the city with Sushi, which is what she's doing right now, until Sushi suddenly runs over to a really fancy-looking water fountain and starts lapping up the water. Which he's not really supposed to be doing. But they've been walking for at least two hours at this point and he's probably really thirsty, so Libber lets it slide.

She's feeling rather worn out herself. She's not sure whether to attribute it to walking around for hours every day or being pregnant, but the fact that she hasn't supercharged her powers in over a month due to the frustrating lack of thunderstorms probably isn't helping.

Libber sighs and sits down on a bench, running her hand through her hair. "I don't know what I'm doing," she murmurs to herself.

"Are you alright, dear?" someone says in a thick Minnesota accent.

Libber's head snaps up to see who's talking to her. It's a woman, probably around ten years older than her, with a messy bun and glasses and oil stains on her jeans. "Oh. Um..." she shrugs and smiles weakly. "...not really."

The woman sits down next to her. "Do you need someone to talk to?"

"I..." Libber falters. "That's sort of a weird offer," she blurts out without thinking. The woman doesn't seem phased, though.

"Well, you don't have to take it if you don't want to. But you look like you need a friend, and I'd be happy to help if you want to talk about whatever's on your mind."

Libber blinks. "I...I mean, if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."

The woman waves her hand dismissively. "Nonsense. It's no trouble at all. My name's Edna."

"Libber," Libber says, shaking Enda's hand. "I..." Libber starts. "It's just that, I'm...pregnant."

"Oh, you are?" Edna says excitedly. "That's wonderful!"

"It's not, though. I mean, it is—I definitely _want_ a baby but...I didn't...I..." she pauses. "I can't take care of them. I can barely take care of myself. I don't know what I'm gonna do—my husband won't be any help. I just...I don't know. I don't know anything about babies. Do you have kids?"

"I don't. My husband and I have always wanted to, but I can't have kids. I was diagnosed with POF when I was 24."

"Oh. Why don't you just adopt?"

Edna smiles sheepishly. "We've tried that. We just want them all. We can't pick one."

"Maybe you can take my baby," Libber jokes.

Edna shakes her head and looks at Libber very seriously. "What is it that _you_ want?" she asks.

"I..." Libber pauses. She takes a long time to come up with an answer. "I _want_ ," she says, "to keep the baby. I want to take care of them and be their mom and keep them safe and make the world a safe place for them, but-"

"Then that's what you do," Edna says. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a slightly crumpled up business card. "I would give _anything_ for a baby. I would be devastated if I couldn't keep them." She hands the business card to Libber. "My address and phone number are on there. If you need any help, you're _more_ than welcome to call. You don't have to do this alone."

Libber stares at the business card in her hand for a moment and then looks back up at Edna. "Thank you," she says softly.

"Any time," Edna winks. "I know how difficult a decision this is. But you don't have to give them up if you don't want to. You can do it, dear, if that's really what you want."

For the first time, Libber feels like maybe she really can _._

* * *

Considering the fact that he'd been listening to Kai chase Jay around the temple for the past fifteen minutes, Cole really shouldn't have been surprised when Jay kicked his door open and launched himself at the earth ninja while screaming, "Cole, save me!"

Or when Kai tackled Jay onto Cole's bed and demanded, "what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Or when Jay wrestled himself away from Kai and climbed onto Cole's back, using him as a human shield against Kai's rage.

Cole huffs and pushes Kai back onto his bed when he lunges towards Jay again. "Alright, what happened?"

"Jay bit me!" Kai screams, pointing a finger at Jay accusingly. ( _Which_ finger, I probably shouldn't say.)

"Because you had me in a headlock!" Jay shouts.

"Because you shocked me!"

"Because you startled me!"

"Because you were being stupid and weren't paying attention!"

"Because you're really boring and I zoned out!"

"Because you-" Kai pauses. "Hey! I'm not boring!" He tries to tackle Jay off of Cole's back, but Cole shoves him back again.

"Guys! Cut it out!"

"He _bit_ me!" Kai repeats. "I'm gonna get rabies!"

"Jay doesn't have rabies!"

"That's what _you_ think," Jay spits. "I got attacked by a racoon once! You can't prove anything!"

For a moment, Cole is rendered speechless at the absurd amount of stupidity he's just witnessed. "What the hell is wrong with you guys?" he asks. "What would Nya say if she saw you attacking each other like this?"

"Nya didn't say anything. She just gave us the middle finger and then left," Kai supplies helpfully.

Cole face-palms. "Will you two calm down and get over it?"

Kai thinks about this for a second. "Fine," he says. "I'm gonna go google the symptoms of rabies."

"Yeah. You do that," Cole replies.

Kai leaves the room, and Jay hops off of Cole's back. "Thanks for not letting him kill me," he says gratefully.

"You're welcome." Cole rolls his eyes. "Hey, have you been able to make any sense of your mom's journal?"

Jay shakes his head and says apologetically, "no, I haven't."

Cole studies him for a moment, looking for Jay's usual tells when he lies. But he doesn't fidget with the hem of his gi or clear his throat or avoid eye-contact. He looks completely sincere.

So why does Cole still feel like he's lying?

"That's too bad," he murmurs.

"Yeah," Jay agrees.

"You gonna keep trying?"

"Yeah." There's a moment of silence before he follows that up with, "well, see ya later," and leaves.

Cole frowns. He still can't figure out what it is that feels off to him. It's just...weird.

After Jay leaves, he takes the piece of paper with his mother's drawing on it and stares at it.

He's seen all there is to see on the side with the drawing, though—he'd stared at it for hours the night he and Jay had found it.

Cole flips it over and stares at the mad scribblings of Libber Gordon, carefully scanning over it to try to figure out what order the words were supposed to be in. It doesn't seem like there _is_ an order, though. The words just spiral and jump around on the page with no discernable pattern. They look like they were written by a toddler.

Or an insane person.

He turns the paper sideways.

The word "perfect" is scattered across the page like a jar full of "perfects" had been accidentally spilled. So is the word "fix."

Cole stares at it for a few more minutes and realizes that there are actually only seven different words scattered throughout the page.

It takes him even longer to figure it out, but once he arranges them in a way that makes sense, they say, " _fix it, and everything will be perfect._ "

* * *

01000101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01100101 01100011 01110100 00001010 00001010 01000111 00001010 00001010 01000101 01110110 01100101 01110010 01111001 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00001010 00001010 01000101 00001010 00001010 01001001 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00001010 00001010 01001101 00001010 00001010 01010100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00001010 00001010 01001001 00001010 00001010 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00001010 00001010 01001110 00001010 00001010 01110100 01101111 00001010 00001010 01001001 00001010 00001010 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01100101 00101101 00100000

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter seemed kind of slow, but I promise the pace will pick up a lot in chapter six, and even more so in chapter 7. Chapter 7 is where things get REALLY interesting.


	6. gLi tc H

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Emetophobia warning—there's some vomiting in this chapter.
> 
> 2\. I was gonna say that I'll now be updating on Mondays and Wednesdays, but you've probably figured out by now that even when I have the chapters written ahead of time I post them whenever I damn well please.
> 
> 3\. This actually might be my favorite chapter so far. Although, admittedly, that might just be because I'm a sucker for whump...

Jay wakes up in the rain.

This in itself is pretty confusing, but it definitely doesn't help that he can't remember how he got here or what he's doing outside in the middle of the night with no coat on in the freezing rain.

Judging by the fact that every inch of him is soaked to the bone, he's probably been out here a long time. Cautiously, he sits up, which takes a fair amount of effort, because he's shivering so much.

How long had he been out for? What had he been doing? Jay racks his brain to try to remember what had happened, but he comes up with nothing. Figuring it would probably not be a good idea to sit out here in the freezing rain for much longer, he strenuously pulls himself to his feet and stumbles up the stairs to the monastery. It takes an awfully long time to get to the very top, because every few steps he has to stop to catch his breath.

Jay winces as he holds his head in his hands. He's gotten migraines before, but he doesn't remember them hurting _this_ much.

Something's wrong.

Something is very, very wrong.

He's shivering so hard it takes several minutes to get the door open to get inside, and by the time he finally figures it out, he's so tired he gets exactly three steps inside before he completely collapses again.

This time, he doesn't lose consciousness, but honestly he would have preferred that. Then he wouldn't have to deal with the incessant throbbing in his head. Jay curls himself up into a ball, covering his ears with his hands and screwing his eyes shut. He makes a sound like a hurt puppy when someone flicks the light on.

"Turn it off," he slurs. "Too...loud."

After a brief pause, the light goes off again, and somebody closes the front door that Jay hadn't gotten around to closing before he fell over. "Jay, what the _hell_ happened?"

It sounds like Kai, but Jay is too tired to look up and see if he's right.

"I dunno. Go away. I'm very...sleepy."

He hears some hushed conversation that he can't quite make out. He doesn't care. They're being rather rude. Can't they see that he's trying to sleep? Jeez.

"Go _away,_ " he repeats.

It's quiet for a minute. Then, another voice, that he's pretty sure is Zane's. "Jay, I need you to stay awake for a few minutes," he says gently. "Can you sit up?"

Jay whimpers and shakes his head. "No," he says. "Hurts."

"Where are you hurt?"

"I dunno. Nowhere. Everywhere. My head?"

"Okay, we can work with that," Zane murmurs, sounding rather stressed out. Jay feels kind of bad now. He didn't mean to make Zane stressed out. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is your headache?" the nindroid asks him.

Jay groans, forgetting all about Zane being stressed out. He doesn't want to play twenty questions right now. He just wants to sleep. "I don't know any numbers," he murmurs. For some reason that answer seems to confuse everyone.

"Can you help me sit him up?" Zane says softly to someone on the other side of Jay. "Be careful not to be too rough."

"No!" Jay yelps, when he feels arms wrap around his midsection and pull him up into a sitting position. Jay tries to scramble away from the person's arms, but unfortunately it's Cole and trying to get away is pointless. He buries his face in Cole's chest. "'M too tired," he mumbles. "I wanna...go to sleep."

He's ignored. Cole glances at the rest of the people in the room who had so rudely intruded on Jay's nap and says, "he's _freezing_."

"We need to get him changed into something else," Zane says. "He's likely contracted hypothermia and being in wet clothes is going to retain the cold."

"Can I have fuzzy pajamas?" Jay mumbles.

"Yes. You can have fuzzy pajamas," Zane agrees. He pats him on the head and then goes to Jay's room to grab him some clothes.

Once he gets back, he undresses Jay, with some difficulty because Jay's gone completely limp. "I don' want anyone to see me naked," he babbles. "That would be like, _embarrassing_."

"Don't worry, I'll be quick and we won't look," Zane assures him.

Jay sighs dramatically as Zane slips his pajama top on.

He looks down. "When did I put pajamas on?" he wonders out loud.

Somebody wraps a few blankets around him, which is actually helpful. "Now can I sleep?" he mumbles.

"Not yet, buddy," Cole says. "You've gotta stay awake just a little longer."

"BUT I-" Jay instantly cuts himself off as he realizes that yelling does _not_ help his head. "I don't feel good," he whimpers.

"I know you don't," Zane says sympathetically. "I promise this won't take very long."

All of the sudden Jay frantically sits the rest of the way up, smacking Cole in the face with his arm. "No, no, I mean I...I _really_ don't feel good," he mumbles. "I'm gonna..."

Before anyone can react, Jay violently gags and he throws up, getting puke not only all over himself, but all over Zane too, who was right in the line of fire.

"Oh. Sorry about that," Jay mutters, before collapsing backwards onto Cole again.

It takes Zane a few seconds to recover from that. Not because he's grossed out—he doesn't get grossed out by things like that, since he's not human and it's not as if he can get sick anyway—but it certainly caught him off guard. Zane looks back at Jay, even more concerned. "Vomiting is not a symptom of hypothermia," he says slowly.

"What do you think is wrong?" Nya asks, an anxious edge to her voice.

Zane shakes his head, genuinely puzzled. "I...do not know."

"I _told_ you there was something wrong with him!" Cole snaps. "And you didn't believe me! You promised you wouldn't let anythi-"

Jay smacks Cole in the face again, although this time it's on purpose. "You're too loud," he states simply, not knowing what anyone's talking about and being far too miserable to care.

Zane looks back at Cole sternly. "I apologize, Cole, but now is not the time to be pointing blame at anyone. First we need to figure out what's going on with Jay."

"Jay is fine," Jay says in the third person, pausing to yawn before continuing, "Jay just has to go to sleep." He truly appreciates their concern, but really all he needs right now is for everyone to be _quiet_.

"Jay is not fine," Cole tells him, as if he's talking to a toddler. "Jay needs to cooperate with us so that we can figure out what's wrong with him."

Jay shuts his eyes and tries to pull the blanket up over his head, but Cole stops him.

"Don't do that. It has puke all over it, remember?"

"Whose puke?"

"...It's yours, Jay."

"Oh. Is that why my stomach hurts?"

"Yeah, probably." Cole frowns and presses a hand to Jay's forehead. "Now it feels like he's got a fever," he says, confused.

Zane scans Jay, which is probably what he should have done in the first place anyway. After the scan is finished, he looks back up at Cole in horror. "You're right," he says. "Now he's at a hundred and three degrees. That...that shouldn't even be _possible_. He was ice cold when we first found him. I think you should probably take the blankets off of him."

Jay whines again when he feels the blankets being taken away from him. "No," he protests, weakly trying to grab them back. "I'm too cold."

"Jay, don't flail your arms around, please. You're gonna get puke all over the place," Lloyd says.

Reluctantly, Jay lets go, and Lloyd takes away the blanket, leaving him shivering and sweating and shaking with nothing to cover him up.

He chokes out a sob, suddenly feeling more scared than annoyed. Cole wipes his bangs off of his forehead. "Do you want someone to get Mr. Cuddlywomps for you?" he asks softly.

Jay nods. Unfortunately, before he has time to tell anyone where Mr. Cuddlywomps is, he falls over onto a cold, hard, linoleum ground.

_Shit. Not this again._

He manages to sit up, and he swallows, wrapping his arms around his midsection as he examines his surroundings.

He's in an abandoned shopping mall. It's almost completely dark; the only light is coming from the moon that shines through the windows on the ceiling.

Everything is silent. There's nobody to be seen. "H-hello?" he says.

There's no answer.

The next logical thing to do would be to explore the abandoned shopping mall and see if he can find a way out or something, but obviously that option is off the table. Jay can barely keep himself upright; there's no way he's going to be able to walk around. "Where am...wh-where am I?" he asks.

"I told you. You're in the In Between."

This time the voice startles him. Jay jumps and looks around, but as always, there's no physical body attached to it. "I...I wanna go back home," he tells it.

"You can't," the voice says, sounding rather pissed off. "Not now. I need your help."

"I...I don't...I don't know what you want," he stutters.

"I already told you what I want. You need to open the box. You need to open the box and then bring them to me so that we can fix it. You _have_ to, okay? I need it. You're the only one who can help me."

"What? Why me?"

"Because, Jay. This is your _true_ purpose. You have no place on that team with those imbeciles. To them, you're nothing. But _not to me_. _I_ can see how powerful you are. I know what you're capable of. You're so much better than them. You're gonna help me save the world."

"I...what are you-"

**Snap.**

The second Jay gets back to real life, he throws up again, this time all over Cole.

Then he completely blacks out.

* * *

The master of ice is by far the most mysterious elemental master on their team. Libber doesn't even know his real name; he's always gone simply by "Ice."

He's old. Not as old as Wu and Garmadon, but since unlike them he's fully human, he looks much older. He never hangs out with the rest of them. He prefers to keep to himself. Libber always used to try to talk to him when she was younger, but he never seemed too interested in anything she had to say, so eventually she just stopped trying.

Which is why it's so weird that he's the one to strike up a conversation with her, as she's sitting in the garden by the monastery with Sushi and looking at the clouds.

"It's a nice day out today," he says, making Libber jump. Thankfully he speaks softly. If he'd said that any louder Libber would have set something on fire.

"Oh," she says. "Yeah."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean, no I don't mind."

Ice sits down next to Libber, who looks at him curiously. "I hear you're expecting," he says.

"Oh. Yep. I am." Libber places a hand over her lower stomach.

Ice doesn't say "congratulations" or "that's wonderful" or anything you're supposed to say when someone's having a baby. Instead, he looks her intensely in the eyes and says, "Liberty, you need to be careful."

Libber's at a loss for words for a second. "Um. What?"

"Can I see your arm?"

"Uhh…I guess?" Libber extends her arm for Ice to look at. He pushes back her sleeve and then taps her wrist with two fingers.

This does something weird. Suddenly her arm feels really cold and her skin is even paler than normal. So pale it's almost translucent. She can see her veins through it, and also...

Libber pauses. "Is that..."

"It is," Ice answers.

There's lightning under her skin. It always _feels_ like there's lightning under her skin, so Libber's not really sure why this is so surprising to her. It makes sense, considering the way she uses her absorbing trick. She can't keep what she absorbs, because it would overload her and give her a seizure, which she learned the hard way. But she always feels extra energized and powerful after she's just been supercharged, and it always feels like there's something burning underneath her skin for a while after.

She didn't know that she actually retained any of the lightning she absorbed. The energy yes, but it's never occurred to her before that when she rechannels it, there's still some leftover.

"The longer that stays there, the more powerful it gets," Ice says.

Libber shakes her head. "No it doesn't. I always feel weaker after it's been a few days. It doesn't-"

"It does," he says sternly. "It festers. I don't know why you can't tell, but I can sense it. You've been getting more and more powerful ever since you started storing natural lightning inside of you. But once you got pregnant, it's been getting even worse. I think, because the baby technically has your powers too, you're retaining more than you usually do, because he's absorbing it, too. But since you're the only one who can use it, you're getting all the power. It's growing too fast."

Libber thinks for a moment. "Is that bad?"

"It's growing _too fast_ , Libber. You're going to break something."

"Like what?"

"Like reality."

There's a long pause.

Libber looks back at him to see if he's joking. He's not, of course. Ice never jokes. "I...what?" she chuckles nervously. "That's impossible."

"It's not. I've studied the fabric of spacetime before, Liberty. It's never been this weak. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to figure out why."

"But what...what happens if-"

"If you break it? You can't let that happen."

"What'll happen if I do?"

"Everything will fall apart. Reality will become distorted, and unless you find a way to manipulate spacetime precisely enough to form the reality we have right now, that would be _catastrophic._ You're very powerful, Liberty, but nowhere near powerful enough that you can just _make_ a new reality, which is what you'd need to do."

"A new..." Libber pauses. "Is that even possible? I could just...come up with a new reality, and change everything?"

"In theory. But attempting it would be extremely irresponsible. You could destroy _everything_ in the process." Ice sighs. "Promise me you'll find a way to stop it, Liberty. For the sake of you and everyone else in the universe."

Libber nods. "I promise," she says. "I won't let the universe collapse."

"Thank you," he says.

Liberty watches him leave, and then looks at her hands, at the sparks that dance around her fingertips almost constantly now.

She could go backwards. Loose all of this power that she's worked so hard to get.

Or she could break everything.

Or...

_Or_ , she could _fix_ everything.

That last outcome, frankly, seems the most intriguing.

* * *

01000101 01010010 01010010 01001111 01010010 00111010 00100000 01010100 01001111 01010100 01000001 01001100 00100000 01010011 01011001 01010011 01010100 01000101 01001101 00100000 01010010 01000101 01000010 01001111 01001111 01010100 00100000 01010010 01000101 01010001 01010101 01001001 01010010 01000101 01000100 00101110 00100000 01001001 01001110 01001001 01010100 01001001 01000001 01010100 01000101 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01000111 01000101 01001101 01001001 01001110 01001001 00100000 01010000 01010010 01001111 01010100 01001111 01000011 01001111 01001100 00101110 00001010 00001010 00101110 00101110 00101110 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 01100110 01110101 01101100 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Jay! He's just very confused and doesn't know what's going on. I hope you liked this chapter, because the next one is even better. So far the average chapter length is approximately 2,000-2,500 words, but chapter seven is 4k-something. So it's almost like you'll be getting a double update.


	7. The Gemini Protocol

Libber unscrews a bolt from the side compartment of the Machine, humming the tune to a song she's had stuck in her head for four days. She's pretty sure it's the song Lilly wrote for Cole, but she can't remember and she doesn't have time to go ask anyway. She's busy.

She clicks a piece into place and flips the switch in the back, causing a soft blue glow to emit from the center of the box as the reactor core boots up.

She waits for the color of the sky to jump around from black to grey to blue to black again a few times before turning the Machine off again. It'll work. It'll break everything. But then she can _fix it_.

She's going to fix _everything_. She's going to make _everything_ better.

_Everything is going to be perfect_.

* * *

Jay wakes up in a hospital.

When he realizes this, he sits up and immediately screams, "why am I in a hospital?!" In a very loud voice that startles the heck out of Nya, Cole, and the nurse, who are the only other people in the room.

"Jay, calm down," Cole says quickly. "You passed out last night and Zane didn't know what to do so we took you to the hospital."

"I passed out? I don't remember that. What are you talking about?"

"Do you remember anything that happened last night?" Nya asks.

Jay thinks about this for a few minutes. "Nope," he says finally. Then, tensing up a little, "is that bad?"

"Memory loss is common in hypothermic patients," the nurse assures him.

"Wait, wait. What's going on? I have hypothermia? What happened last night?"

"We were...kind of hoping you'd have an answer to that," Cole says slowly. "We found you at midnight on the floor of the living room, looking like you'd been out in the rain for a few hours. You were acting _really_ out of it." He frowns and takes Jay's hand in his. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Okay, I guess," Jay answers. "I've got a massive headache, but other than that I feel fine."

"We've run all kinds of tests," the nurse says. "We can't find anything wrong with him other than the hypothermia. The best I can come up with is that he had some sort of twenty-four hour bug, too, that's run its course by now."

"But he was fine for most of the day," Nya argues. "That doesn't make sense."

The nurse grimaces. "I don't know what to tell you. He's perfectly fine now. If you really want us to, we can keep him over night for more testing, but-"

"No! Don't let them keep me hostage!" Jay pleads.

Cole sighs, after a brief pause. "Alright," he says. "If you're sure it would be safe to bring him home, we do have something that we should probably get to soon."

"Yes, he should be fine. I'd keep a close eye on him for a day or two to make sure he stays that way, but other than that, just make sure he gets plenty of rest and fluids."

"Rest and fluids are boring," Jay scoffs.

Nya rolls her eyes. "That's too bad, because you're not allowed to go anywhere today."

"I'll try not to." Jay smirks. _I can't make any promises, though._

* * *

At nine months old, Cole's vocabulary consists of exactly two words: "mama," and "hug." Usually he doesn't make much noise—in fact, it's a little frustrating how quiet he is, because it's hard to tell when he needs something when he hardly ever cries—however, unfortunately, for some reason today is an exception.

Lou and Lilly wish they could be angry with him, but his babbling is just so cute that they can't bring themselves to tell him to be quiet and let them feed him. Lilly giggles as Cole pushes the spoon away again and demands, "Mama! Hug!"

"I can't just hug you all day, silly," she tells him. "You've gotta eat your dinner."

Cole doesn't seem very happy about this. He pouts, reaching for Lilly. "Hug!"

"Maybe we'd have better luck if you were holding him," Lou suggests, taking the tray off of the highchair.

Cole babbles some more nonsense and reaches out for Lilly again. Lilly snorts. "Okay! Goodness, baby, you really like hugs, don't you?"

"Hug," Cole says. He squeals with glee when Lilly picks him up and plants a kiss on his head.

"Now will you eat your food?" she asks. Cole gives her a sloppy baby kiss on the cheek in response. "Did you see that?" Lilly swoons. "He just kissed me! That was so cute!"

"He's a sweetheart," Lou agrees with a smile. "I bet he'll grow up to be just like you, my angel." He kisses Lilly's hand before getting another spoonful of baby food and feeding it to Cole, who eats it this time.

Lilly smiles and shakes her head at her husband. She's about to say something else when the phone rings.

"That's odd," Lou murmurs. "I don't know who'd be calling."

Lilly shrugs. "Just let it go to voicemail."

...it doesn't go to voicemail. Five seconds after the phone stops ringing, it starts again.

Lilly frowns. "I think I'd better get that." She hands Cole over to Lou and goes to answer the phone. "Hello? This is the Hence househol-"

"Lilly! Thank god. I need you to drive me to the hospital," Libber says urgently.

"Wha- what? What's wrong?"

"I'd drive myself, but I hear that's not really recommended when you're in labor." Libber lets out a sharp gasp from the other side of the phone and grits her teeth. "I think I might know why."

"Where's Cliff?"

"He's at work. He...he was too busy. Said I needed to find someone else to drive."

"He..." Lilly feels her blood boil. "Okay. Just stay there, Libs, I'm on my way." She hangs up the phone and turns around.

"What's going on?" Lou asks.

"Libber's having her baby. Cliff is apparently 'too busy' to drive her to the hospital," Lilly huffs. "I _told_ her she shouldn't have married that sociopath."

Thankfully they don't live too far apart. Lilly gets there in less than five minutes and to the hospital in just a little over nine.

Lilly fills in all the paperwork that Cliff should have been here to do. Libber doesn't even seem the least bit surprised that he's not here, which is almost as worrying as the dark circles under her eyes that make her look like she hasn't slept in days, or the fact that she needs to be hooked up to an IV because she's severely dehydrated, or the strange feeling Lilly has as she sits next to the bed and lets Libber squeeze her hand that something _isn't right._

None of those things, however, are quite as worrying as the fact that the second the baby is born, all the electricity in the building stops working, and Libber lets out an ear-splitting, blood curdling shriek that lasts for at least a full minute.

Usually people don't scream _after_ they give birth, but the shriek Libber gives after the power goes out is far louder than any of the screams caused by her labor pains.

"NO!" she screams in panic. "NO, IT'S ALL GONE! WHAT HAPPENED TO IT? I CAN'T FIX ANYTHING WITHOUT IT!"

* * *

Jay was right. There _was_ something wrong with the gears in the music box. The problem is, they're not there.

The comb and cylinder are still in tact, but other than that it looks like everything has been taken out and replaced with...a bunch of tiny blue things?

Jay pours some of them into his palm to examine them more closely. He can't tell if they're actually glowing or if it's just the lighting, but nonetheless he's never seen anything like them before. They look sort of like sunflower seeds, except a little rounder and smoother and blue.

"What the..." he mutters. "What am I supposed to do with _these_?"

He pours the rest of them out into the palm of his hand and checks the box again, but they're the only things in there. There's nothing else. He grunts, frustrated. What is he supposed to do with them? He can't really remember what the voice in the In Between had told them to do. He can't really remember much at all from yesterday. He remembers being really cold, being in a really creepy shopping mall, and then throwing up on Cole, but that's it.

That doesn't matter, though, because seconds later he's sitting at the top of a slide in an empty playground. It's _really_ foggy out—he can barely see the bottom of the slide, which is a bit concerning because it's not a particularly tall slide. Jay stands up and looks around. "Hello?" he asks.

The only answer he gets is the wind screaming back at him and whipping his hair around. Jay shivers. This is almost worse than the abandoned shopping mall. The In Between seems to get creepier every time he comes here.

"Hello?" he repeats, louder.

There's still no answer. Jay looks down at his palm, which is still holding the tiny blue seed things. In the fog, it's easier to tell that they really are glowing. It's a pulsing glow, and he realizes that they're fading and getting brighter in the same exact tempo to the energy in his veins that he's been feeling since he started absorbing lightning. Maybe they have something to do with-

"There you are. Took you long enough."

Jay lets out a yelp when he turns around. This time, there _is_ a body attached to the voice. They wordlessly hold out their hand, and Jay instinctively drops the blue seed things into their palm. He can't see their face; they're wearing a large black cloak with a hood that covers their eyes and a mask pulled up over their mouth and nose. They close their fist around the blue seeds and put them in their pocket.

Jay stares at them blankly for a few moments before there's a shockwave of electricity so powerful it nearly knocks him off his feet.

The second it goes through him, his surroundings change again. All of the sudden he's back in the In Between the way it looked the first time he was here: the sky is dark purple with lavender stars and magenta nebulas, and the beach sand is so pale it's almost white, and the waves lapping the shore are black, which is a perfect canvas for the reflection of the milky white and purple moon. Jay looks back at the figure in front of them. Wordlessly, they gesture for him to follow them to the cinderblock tower.

They climb up four flights of stairs before they reach the very top, and when they do the figure puts the seeds in their pocket on the table in the middle of the room.

Jay looks around. Besides the table and a few chairs, the only other things in the room are a telescope and a strange box in the corner, which is covered in wires and buttons and switches and kind of looks like something out of the lab of a mad scientist in a horror movie. "Um," he says, pointing to the box. "What is that for?"

The figure shakes their head and shushes him. "Not important right now. We're running out of time."

"What are you talking about? I'm so confused. What is going on?"

The figure growls. Literally growls, like an animal or something. "What's going on?" they repeat. "The end of the world. But don't worry, that's a good thing. You're gonna help me push the reset button."

"What?!"

"Shh." The figure puts two fingers over Jay's lips. "You're going to cooperate with me, Jay. I _need_ you, if we're going to do this."

"But..." Jay's starting to feel panicked again. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to fix everything. You're the only one who can help me. Nobody else. I need you, Jay. Unlike your friends, I know what you're truly capable of. I know how powerful you are. They don't want you. They never have. But if you help me, I can give you a chance to prove them wrong."

_This_ catches Jay's attention. "What do you mean? Of course they...of course my friends want..." he trails off.

The figure tuts and gently takes his chin in their hand to make him look at them. "Think about it. You could finally be important."

Jay stares back at the faceless stranger. "But...they would...they would never..."

"Hmm. If you're sure." They shake their head. "You'll be back. And I'll be waiting."

"But...wait, what do y-"

**Snap.**

Jay blinks. He sets the music box down. He would have stayed there a lot longer had it not been for the arguing he hears outside his door.

_"What do you mean he didn't stay at the hospital with you? He told us that's what he was going to do."_

_"Well, he told_ us _he was going to go home with_ you _!"_

_"He lied?"_

_"Obviously! He probably went to look for those signals we picked up last night by himself. I mean, this_ is _Lloyd we're talking about."_

_"You know, this wouldn't have happened if Jay hadn't decided to take a walk in the freezing rain in the middle of the night and fucking give himself hypothermia!"_

_"Kai, you can't blame this on Jay. We still don't even know what he was doing."_

_"What explanation could he_ possibly _have for that? He was just being an idiot!"_

"What's going on?"

Everyone looks up at Jay, who's just walked into the room. "Hey, didn't we tell you you weren't allowed to go anywhere today?" Nya says.

"I feel fine. My headache isn't even that bad anymore. You didn't answer my question. What's going on?"

Zane pulls up an image on the computer screen of a map. "Last night, we picked up some strange signals coming from the power plant in lower Ninjago city. You weren't there. You were...out in the rain, I suppose."

(Is it just his imagination, or does Zane sound angry with him too?)

"After we came back home we realized Lloyd was missing. He must have gone to investigate them by himself."

"Yeah," Kai spits. "We haven't been able to contact him or even track him to see where he went. I went and checked out the power plant a while ago and he wasn't there. Nobody had seen them. And if _you_ hadn't decided to go get hyperthermia, we probably would have already figured out whatever's causing the signals and Lloyd wouldn't be missing!"

"I...but, I..." Jay stutters.

Zane sighs. "I would not go so far as to say that it's entirely your fault, Jay. It was obviously Lloyd's choice to go investigate the signals without telling anyone."

Jay's eyes dart from Kai to Zane and land on Nya. "Nya?" he whispers tentatively. "You don't think..."

"No, I don't think any of this is your fault," she says, although she doesn't completely convinced. "But...why _were_ you out in the rain in the middle of the night anyway?"

"I..."

There's a very long, very weighted pause as everyone in the room looks at Jay, waiting for him to answer the question. Jay's expression of betrayal slowly morphs into one of apathy. He takes a step back.

"You're right," he says.

"Right about what?" Cole asks.

"Right that it's my fault. It's okay. You can admit it. I know it's true. All I do is get in the way, right?"

"Wha- no, that's not what we mean! We just wanna know what you were doing in the rain. That's all," Nya says.

Jay shakes his head. "It's fine. You don't need me." Jay sets his nunchucks on the table and takes a deep breath. "I quit."

There's a few stunned seconds of silence.

"What? What do you mean you _quit_?" Cole says, panicked.

"I quit. I'm off the team. I'm not a ninja anymore. I'm done."

"Jay, stop being so dramatic. That's not what I meant," Kai says. "I don't want you off the team. I'm just saying tha-"

"Oh, you don't? That's not what I heard," Jay spits. "Aren't I the expendable one? Remember that?"

"What? That was forever ago. Where is this coming from? You know I didn't mean-"

"IF YOU DIDN'T MEAN IT YOU WOULDN'T HAVE SAID IT!" Jay slams his hands down on the table, staring down at his nunchucks he'd put there and breathing heavily.

Nobody moves. Nobody says anything. Nobody knows what to do. None of them have _ever_ seen Jay get so upset over anything.

Jay's infamous for his spazzing out. It's not exactly uncommon for him to lose his cool and start yelling at people. But he's never really been genuinely angry before. His freak-outs are much more rooted in anxiety than they are in real anger. This, however...

_This_ is real anger.

Jay storms off to his room. He's back in a minute dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, his gi tucked under his arm.

The gi goes on the table next to his nunchucks. He rips off the dragon necklace and throws it at Cole, who's too shocked to say anything about it.

"And _you_ ," he turns to Nya. "You can take _this_ back."

He thrusts his half of their yin and yang medal at her face. Nya stares at it in horror. "Jay, please don't do this."

Kai huffs. "Come on, Jay, snap out of it! Look, I'm sorry, okay! I didn't know you I made you feel so underappreciated. We still need you on the team. Put your gi back on, and let's go look for Lloyd."

Jay chucks the half of the yin and yang medal that Nya hadn't taken from him at Kai's head, which hits him directly on the scar on his eyebrow. " _You_ go look for Lloyd," Jay hisses. "I. Quit."

Jay leaves before anyone else can object, slamming the door behind him and leaving everyone in complete shock.

"I told you something was wrong," Cole mumbles.

"The only question now is, _what_ ," Zane says.

"We should probably go after him," Nya says, but when they go outside, Jay is nowhere to be seen

"He'll...he'll be back," Kai says. "He wouldn't just... _leave_ us like that."

He doesn't look so sure, though, and neither does anyone else.

* * *

_"There's no going back now."_

_"I know. I'm not trying to. I just hadn't anticipated losing my powers like that."_

_"You didn't lose your_ powers _. Just the lightning you stored in you. You can get that back easily. And you_ need _to get it back. We're running out of time. We need to make the cut soon so that we can get to the In Between and get everything ready before the reboot."_

_"What if I can't get it all back in time?"_

_"Then we'll have to find the Next One."_

_"And you're sure it'll work?"_

_"It has to. Don't worry. We're doing the right thing."_

_"...if you're sure."_

_"I am sure. It's time to initiate the Gemini Protocol."_

* * *

Libber wakes up in the rain.

Normally she would have questioned this, but right now the only thing she can think is _that better have worked, or else we're screwed._

She can feel it again.

The electricity pulsing through her veins—the raw, wild, unspeakably _powerful_ energy, humming as it buzzes through her bloodstream.

Taking in five bolts at a time certainly hadn't helped her headache, but hopefully it had been enough to replenish the supply that had been lost when she had the baby.

Libber had left the baby with Edna.

Once she fixed the timeline, she would be able to be a mother. But now, she's far too busy to look after a baby. She's running out of time. She can see it.

(Although at this point, it's hard to tell if they're truly glitches or just hallucinations...maybe she really _is_ crazy.)

Libber stands up. It's too late now.

Nobody can get in her way.

Unfortunately, it looks like somebody already has.

"Libber, please listen to me."

_Well. That's just_ perfect _timing. Unless she's been here the whole time. Has she? I can't remember I can't remember I can't remember I can't remem-_

"Lilly, I don't have time to talk to you right now. I'm busy."

"I know you are! You already told me what you're doing!"

_Wait. That's impossible. That's...that didn't happen. She doesn't know. That's impossible. Impossible. I can't remember I can't remember I can't remember I can't-_

"What? No I didn't!" Libber blinks and shakes her head, rubbing her temples. "I didn't. You're lying."

"Libber, I have been here the _entire time_. I knocked on your door and you let me in and showed me the blueprints for your machine and explained your _entire plan_ to me!"

"I did?" Libber runs her hand through her hair. "When did that happen?"

_(I can't remember I can't remember I can't remember I can't re- something's wrong)_

"Just now! Then you ran out here and absorbed five bolts of lightning at the same time before I could stop you!"

Libber doesn't like the look Lilly's giving her. She looks mad. And worried. Libber doesn't like it when Lilly is mad _or_ worried, let alone both at the same time.

"Libber, this is _crazy_! You have to stop this!"

_(Something's wrong.)_

_(No. shut up. It's fine. I'm fine.)_

Libber shakes her head. "It's too late. I already started ripping apart the universe. I've gotta go through with it or else..."

She trails off. Not because she doesn't know what will happen. Just because she completely forgot what she was talking about. She grips her head with both hands.

"Why can't I remember?" she murmurs.

_What's wrong with me? nothing everything nothing everything nothing everything_

Lilly puts a hand on her shoulder. "Let me help. Please."

There's a very long pause as Libber tries to remember what's going on.

_Lilly. Trying to stop me from...oh. I have to make sure she doesn't._

"NO!"

Lilly gapes at Libber when she smacks her hand away. "Libber, _stop_! This is crazy!"

"I know! But I don't have a choice!"

"Yes you do! Please, just listen. We can fix this together, okay? I'm sorry I didn't realize there was something wrong sooner, but I-"

"Nothing's wrong!" Libber huffs, screwing her eyes shut and hitting herself in the forehead with the heel of her palm. "Go away. Let me fix it."

"No! I'm not going to let you turn that thing on! You're going to destroy everything!"

"BUT THEN I'LL FIX IT! I'M GONNA MAKE IT BETTER, LILLY. I'M GONNA MAKE _EVERYTHING_ BETTER!"

"YOU'RE CRAZY!"

_you are._

_..._

_what are you doing? you don't even know if it'll work._

_no. stop. you're wrong. i do know._

_i_

_i have to flip the switch_

_now_

_i_

_ican'trememberican'trememberican'tremember_

_stopitstopitstopititsfineimfineicandoit_

_i_

_i can fix it_

_but-_

_leave me alone_

Lilly was always the better fighter. Lilly had always been better at _everything_. She was always the hero. All Libber ever was was the annoying unnecessary comic relief who happened to shoot lightning bolts out of her hands. Libber doesn't stand a chance against Lilly in combat, even if Lilly was trying not to hurt her.

And she wouldn't—she wouldn't hurt her. Lilly looks at Libber with pleading eyes and says, "Libber, please. Let me help."

They stand there in the pouring rain for a few minutes before Libber closes her eyes and shakes her head.

_don't do it_

_i have to_

_you don't_

_but if i don't then the universe will collapse. she's going to stop us_

_shut up_

_it's fine_

_everything is going to be fine_

_everything is going to be perfect_

_everything is going to be perfect_

_everything is going to be perfe-_

"Not this time, Tiger Lilly," she whispers.

Then she draws another bolt of lightning to her.

And then she shoves _all of that energy_ into Lilly.

Libber covers her ears.

Lilly screams.

It's a primal shriek of pure anguish that she gives, five times as loud as the one that Libber had emitted after she lost the lightning.

Immediately, she collapses, her body writhing in pain. Libber can see the lightning under her skin as it shocks her over and over again.

It'll immobilize her, but...she's the master of Earth. She can handle it. Right?

_it doesn't matter. there's no more time._

The last thing Lilly sees before she blacks out is her best friend, turning around and walking away.

She never sees her again.

* * *

"Are you ready?" they ask in a hushed voice.

Jay nods.

He takes their hand.

They flip the switch.

Everything goes dark.

_Everything is going to be perfect_

_Everything_

_Is going_

_To be_

_is going to be_

_to_

_to be perfe-_

* * *

Cole wakes up in a bed.

Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, because he usually wakes up in a bed. But the bed that he usually wakes up in is in his room in either the Destiny's Bounty or the monastery, and the room that he's just woken up in bears no resemblance to either of those places.

Since he's still mostly asleep and feeling rather spacey, it takes a few moments for this to process in his mind. Once it finally does, he starts panicking, understandably. Panic is the reaction which would be expected of someone who's just woken up in a room they don't recognize.

But after a moment, Cole's heartbeat goes back to its normal rate. Although still considerably dazed and confused, he realizes that he _does_ recognize the room he's in.

It's his old room, the one he lived in when he still lived with his dad. Cautiously, he gets out of bed and creeps across the floor.

He knows where he is now, but he's still unsettled—he can't remember why he's here. "Dad?" he asks, opening the door.

But judging by the lack of choir practice going on, it doesn't seem like his dad is home. So why is-

"Oh, Cole! You're up! How are you feeling?"

Cole stops dead in his tracks. "I..."

His throat is dry. His heart quickly returns to the elevated rate it was at when he first woke up.

"I..."

The woman tenderly places the back of her hand on Cole's forehead. "You're still feeling pretty warm. I think you should..." she trails off and furrows her brows in concern. "Are you okay, baby? You look like you've seen a _ghost_..."

Cole manages to swallow, but it takes him a few more minutes before he's able to choke out the word, "Mom?"

_Everything stops._


	8. Rips in the Sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW/CW: there's a panic attack in this chapter

"You look terrible, Lou."

"Gee, thanks, Victor," Lou mutters.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that."

Lou's fellow Royal Blacksmith glances at the sleeping baby in the crib in the corner of the room.

"How's Cole doing?"

"I think this is the first time he's fallen asleep in _days_. When he wakes up he's gonna start crying again. I'm sorry about that. I'll try to be quick."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You take as long as you need to. How...how long has it been, anyway? How long as Lilly been...asleep?"

Lou doesn't answer for a moment. He bites his lip. "It's been a week," he says softly. "They...they don't know if she's going to wake up."

Victor pretends not to notice the voice crack at the end of his sentence. He nods. "Don't worry about us. Of course Cole's upset—I'm sure he misses her too. He's confused. He doesn't know what happened to her."

"He kept asking for her last night. I didn't know what to do." Lou pauses. "I wish I could take him with me, but it's probably not a good idea to take a 9-month-old baby into the intensive care wing of the hospital."

"Yeah." Victor sighs. "She'll be okay, Lou. You know how she is. Lilly's stubborn."

Lou doesn't answer. He stares straight ahead into the middle distance and shakes his head. "You wanna know what they found in the x-ray, Vic?"

Judging by the tone of Lou's voice, Victor's not sure he does, but Lou answers anyway.

"Lightning." He looks at him. "There's lightning _fused to her nervous system_."

* * *

"Mom?"

_Everything stops._

His head is spinning and his heart is pounding and his hands are shaking and—

"You..." Cole's voice cracks and he sways on his feet—he probably would have collapsed if his mom hadn't caught him. "You're _dead,_ " he sputters, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "You're _dead_. How are you _here_?"

_Cole is sitting on the floor in the corner of his bedroom, his knees pulled up to his chest and his expression blank._

_He hadn't cried when he'd been told that she was gone._

_He hadn't cried when he watched as all of his mother's things were put into boxes and moved into the attic._

_He hadn't cried during the funeral. He hadn't cried during the readings or the obituary. He sat through countless relatives he'd never seen before telling him how sorry they were for his loss with a polite expression, thanking them for their support. His father hadn't cried, so he wasn't going to either._

_He hadn't been able to bring himself to look at her in the casket, though. His dad had been mad about that. They'd argued about it in the back of the church for a few minutes. Lou had snapped at him that this was his last chance to say goodbye to her, and that he was being disrespectful. Cole had growled that he already had said goodbye and that he didn't want to look at a corpse in a fancy box._

_He regretted it the second those words came out of his mouth, after seeing the look on his father's face. He was going to get yelled at tonight; he knew it._

_But he hadn't cried then, either. He hadn't cried then, and he wasn't going to..._

_He isn't going to cry now ei..._

_He is not going to cry._

_He isn't._

_Cole squeezes his eyes shut._

_"Screw you," he mutters through a shaky sob. He doesn't know who this is directed at. His father, for pretending like some random long-lost third cousin had died instead of the most important person in their lives? Or his mother, for kicking the bucket after promising him that she would always be there for him? Or at himself, for breaking down in tears in his room after his mom died like some sort of...normal person...?_

_Cole angrily punches the wall, which leaves a bigger dent than he was intending to make. He doesn't care. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Apparently Lilly didn't matter. If she did, why is he the_ only one _who's upset? How can everyone else just go on with their lives as if nothing happened when it feels like his entire world is ending?_

_Cole closes his eyes and remembers being little, when his mother was still well enough to be home and not in the hospital all the time—how she would sing him to sleep with her angelic voice, softly brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Sometimes on bad days, when she was in too much pain to sing or even sit up properly, Cole would curl up next to her on the couch and he would be the one to sing to her. She would always kiss him on the head and say through her tears, "I love you so much, my angel." And sometimes he'd pretend to fall asleep so that when she was feeling better, she'd carry him back to his room and tuck him in._

_She didn't always feel better, of course. Some nights she'd wake him up and tell him he had to go back to his own bed, which always made him sad. He stopped doing that at some point, because more and more often even his singing didn't help Lilly feel better._

_Cole buries his face in his arms and sobs. She probably just wanted to be left alone but didn't have the heart to tell his five-year-old self that he was making things worse. He should have just left her alone. Maybe if he had let her rest more she'd still be alive. Maybe everything is his fault._

_Maybe-_

Cole feels himself be led to the couch and be handed a cup of water, which he immediately drops because his hands are so shaky. He can't hear anything. He can't tell what's going on. He can't even see anything right; it's like he's looking through a fish bowl lens. All he can feel is his heart beating erratically, and his fingernails digging into his skin, desperately trying to bring himself back to reality.

He feels somebody gently takes his hands from him and plant a kiss on his forehead. He squeezes his eyes shut. This isn't real. This isn't real, it _can't_ be. Lilly is _gone_. She's _dead_. Yet somehow, she's right in front of him, gently shushing him and holding his hands and saying something that he has to focus really hard to be able to make out.

"Shhh," she says softly. "Cole, baby, you're okay. You're safe. Nothing happened to me. I'm right here."

He shakes his head. "No," he chokes. "You...you, you're n-not..."

It takes him a long time to come back to his senses, and when he does he's laying down with his head on his mother's lap, being sung to like he's a little kid again. He shudders and closes his eyes when he feels her hand stroke his hair, and he reaches up and takes her hand in his. Her hands are strong, covered in calluses and bandages wrapped around her knuckles. Yet somehow they're still soft and cool and gentle on his skin.

"Hey, sweetheart," she whispers.

"...mom?" he asks cautiously.

"Yeah, honey. It's me."

There are about a million questions racing through Cole's mind right now, but he doesn't ask any of them.

Instead he closes his eyes and listens to the sound of his mother humming, his head still on her lap. It feels selfish, but Cole wants this moment to last forever. He can figure out what's going on later.

* * *

When Jay finally returns to consciousness, he's lying on a beach.

Not the beach with pale white sand and black water—on this beach, everything is grey. The sky is grey, and the water is grey, and the grass is a dusty greenish grey, and the sand he's lying on is a beigeish grey.

It's also all over him, unfortunately. Jay huffs. He grew up in the desert, so it's not like he's never gotten sand in his clothes before, but it doesn't get any less unpleasant no matter how many times it happens.

He winces as he sits up. Firstly because there's sand in his underwear and that's not a very nice feeling. Secondly, because his headache is back.

He's pretty sure he's still in the In Between, but the other person is nowhere in sight. Jay blinks in confusion a few times before laying back down on the sand.

This time he's not in the freezing rain, but _everything_ hurts. He has _no_ idea what happened.

Weakly, he coughs, without bothering to cover it, since it's not like anyone's around. He winces again when he realizes there's sand in his _mouth_.

Jay sits up again, sputtering, as he spits it out onto the ground.

"This," he mutters, "is the least aesthetic beach I have ever been to."

Not that it matters when he lays down and closes his eyes again.

He feels _terrible_. Every part of his body hurts—his head is pounding, his stomach is churning, and his throat is aching as if he'd been screaming. He shivers, turning onto his side and wrapping his arms around himself to try to warm himself up. He's sweating, despite feeling so cold, which indicates that he probably has a fever.

Jay feels tears welling up in his eyes. He has no idea what happened. He doesn't know why he's on this ugly cold beach, or where everyone else is, or why he feels so sick. If he were thinking more clearly he probably would have tried to figure at least one of those things out, but at the moment the only thing he can do is squeeze his eyes shut and lay there pathetically on the sand, shivering and sweating.

He doesn't know how long he lays there for, but he must have fallen asleep at some point, because when he wakes up again, he's in a bed. It's not his bed, or even a bed that he recognizes, but it's much better than the beach so he mumbles a "thank you" to the other person in the room and goes right back to sleep.

* * *

Lloyd has existed for fourteen years.

Anybody else who's existed for fourteen years probably wouldn't be too bothered if they woke up in a fourteen-year-old body. However, although Lloyd has existed for fourteen years, he's fairly certain that yesterday, he was nineteen. Therefore, when he wakes up in a strange room that he doesn't recognize, six inches shorter than he was the day before, it understandably leaves him a bit disoriented.

The nineteen-year-old Lloyd would have stayed calm and assessed the situation to try to find out what was going on. But currently, Lloyd has a fourteen-year-old body, with a fourteen-year-old brain structure, and fourteen-year-old logic and reasoning skills, so he does not stay calm and assess the situation to try to figure out what's going on.

Instead, he immediately panics, falls out of bed, and hits his head on the nightstand.

"Ow," he mutters.

He lays there on the floor for a few moments. This doesn't exactly seem like the best course of action, but he's not really sure what else to do. He's just very confused.

Perhaps that's partially due to the fact that although he remembers bits and pieces from yesterday, there seem to be quite a few gaps in his memory. He remembers going to the power plant to check out the signals (behind the other ninja's backs, but that's irrelevant). However, for some reason everything after that point seems to be completely missing.

Lloyd's suddenly struck with a sinking feeling in his stomach that _something isn't right._

He reaches for the com link that he usually keeps around his wrist at all times, but of course, it isn't there.

Frustrated, he pulls himself to his feet and climbs out the window.

He's in Ninjago City. As weird as that is, at least he knows where he is.

The monastery looks different when he gets there. The murals that had been painted on the walls in the courtyard are gone. There's no training equipment and no video game consoles when he gets inside. "Hey, guys?" Lloyd asks cautiously, staring at the empty spot where the x-box used to be.

The only answer he gets is the sound of something crashing coming from the other room. Lloyd hurriedly opens the door.

There's a shattered picture frame on the ground, and Master Wu standing hunched over the table, staring down at it with a blank expression on his face. "Master Wu?" Lloyd whispers.

"She did it," he breathes. "She...she really did it. I thought she was gone."

Lloyd picks up the picture frame. "Who did what?" he asks. "What are you talking about?"

Wu doesn't answer. Lloyd looks back down at the picture frame in his hands and almost drops it again.

It's a picture of all of them. Except half the people in the picture are supposed to be dead.

Garmadon looks human again, like how he did for a short while before he was turned into a snake and sent to the cursed realm. Lloyd is standing next to him, at an age that he doesn't remember ever being. Ray and Maya are both there, and so is Cole's mom. And so is some other woman that he doesn't recognize. She has blonde hair and freckles and a grin on her face that reminds Lloyd of...

Hold on a minute.

Why isn't Jay in the picture?

* * *

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, the binary's back! There won't be binary at the end of EVERY chapter, but probably most of them, because although it's probably annoying for you guys to have to copy and paste it into a translator, it's fun for me to make the creepily vague clues I write at the end of each chapter even more cryptic and confusing.
> 
> By the way, I have a proposition. I keep going back and skimming through previous chapters and realizing I missed quite a few scenes, which tends to happen when you're trying to handle like 70 storylines at once. Instead of rewriting though, I was wondering what you would think about me writing a one-shot series that takes place within the timeline(s) of this story? If anyone has any opinions or ideas for things you want me to elaborate on in one-shots, I'd love to hear them!


	9. The Earth Was Still On Fire When I Met You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is gonna be a little different, because it is mostly just a bunch of short flashback drabbles. They are chock-full of clues, foreshadowing, and pain. Have fun!

_Lloyd felt kind of bad about lying to everyone, but Jay's trip to the hospital had taken up a lot of their time and he was getting impatient. He had initially just planned on checking out the power plant really quick to make sure there wasn't anything catastrophic going on and then coming back later with the others to do some more investigating._

_Those plans changed, however, when he found a massive power generator on the third floor, in a dark room, completely shut off._

_It was strange enough that it was shut off, because it was one of the biggest power generators in the entire plant and it seemed like the city would have lost quite a bit of electricity without it, but what was even stranger was that this was the power generator that their sensors were showing was causing the signals._

_But there was nothing there._

_Nothing, that is, except a very dusty USB drive sitting on an otherwise empty table._

_It's labeled, "the Gemini Protocol."_

* * *

_"I had a strange dream last night," Lilly says softly. Her brows are furrowed as if she's deep in concentration. "I dreamt that we were on this strange looking beach. There was black water and white sand and the sky was purple with lavender stars. You were...different. Older. You had a katana that looked like it was made of vengestone, but somehow you could still use your powers even though I couldn't. I angry with you for some reason, but I can't remember why."_

_"Oh," Libber says. She pauses. "Well...I had a dream last night that my dog had a secret underground bunker for the zombie apocalypse, but I found it and ate all the peanut butter and he got mad at me."_

_Lilly stares at her for a moment before shaking her head and grinning. "Never change, Libber," she chuckles._

_"Not planning on it," Libber assures her earnestly._

_Lilly sighs. "Well, I had probably better get going. Lou won't be happy if I'm late for my last show before I go on maternity leave."_

_"Uh," Libber looks down. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I wish I could be there, but..."_

_"It's okay. I understand. I'll have plenty more shows after I have the baby."_

_"...yeah."_

* * *

_Luckily, Jay has lightning-fast reflexes. Otherwise, Cole would have punched him in the face after he woke him up at three in the morning. "I...I'm sorry," he mutters, sitting up and running his hand through his hair._

_"You're fine," Jay assures him. "Did you have another nightmare?"_

_Cole pauses. "Yeah. The same one."_

_The same one that had been living in his head rent-free for the last few weeks. He's human again. He made it through the rift and he's not a ghost anymore. But that terrifying moment when everyone forgot about him and he was disappearing was something that would probably stick with him forever._

_In his dreams, that moment never ends. Nobody ever remembers him and he always ends up disappearing, all alone, and nobody ever even notices or cares. This time, Jay had woken him up before he got to the really bad part, but...Cole looks at him as something occurs to him._

_"Why are you in my room?"_

_"Um, I..." Jay bites his lip and looks away. "I don't know."_

_Obviously, that's a lie, but it's not a very good one, because he doesn't move, he just keeps standing there staring at his feet. "Jay, really," Cole says gently. "What's wrong?"_

_Jay shifts uncomfortably under Cole's gaze. "I, uh, I just...I had a nightmare too. Which isn't...fair...it, it isn't fair for me to be so up-upset about this because it was way worse for you and, and I..." his voice cracks and he takes a moment to try to regain his composure. Cole instinctively grabs his hand and guides him to sit on the bed next to him. "I just...I know I shouldn't have c-come to you, because the bad stuff happened to you, not me, but I just, I..." Jay squeezes his eyes shut and stifles a sob. Cole pulls him against his chest in a hug._

_"Shh. You're okay, buddy."_

_"I, I know," Jay chokes. "But are_ you _okay? I, I just...you could have disappeared forever and it would have been all my fault!"_

_Cole frowns. "I never once blamed you, Jay," he says. (That's...not entirely true. There were times when he blamed the other ninja, but now is definitely not the time to bring that up.) "It wasn't anybody's fault. Besides, I'm okay now. Everything worked out. I'm human again."_

_Jay buries his face in Cole's chest. "I'm sorry," he says. "This is ridiculous. I'm the one who should be comforting you. You're the one who almost...who almost f-faded out of existence."_

_"That doesn't make sense," Cole says. "You're saying that because it was worse for me, you're not allowed to be upset about it?"_

_"Yeah," Jay sniffs. He wipes his nose on Cole's sleeve, which Cole probably would have been fairly pissed about in any other situation. He doesn't mention it now, though; he just hands Jay the box of Kleenex on his nightstand._

_"Okay, well, how about this. Lloyd got possessed by Morro. And since that was a worse experience for him, obviously nobody else is allowed to be upset about it. We're supposed to be totally fine with the fact that one of our best friends was possessed by an evil ghost for a while."_

_Jay sighs, defeated by Cole's logic. "Whatever," he mutters. "Could I...could I just stay here tonight? I don't wanna go back to my own room."_

_Cole smiles. "Yeah, of course you can." He lays back down, and Jay curls up against his side like he's a cat._

_"I promise I won't_ ever _forget you again," he whispers._

_He wraps an arm around his best friend. "I know. I promise I won't forget you either."_

* * *

_"You really haven't been yourself lately."_

_Libber sighs and dramatically lays down on Lilly's couch with the back of her hand on her forehead for added affect. "I'm just tired," she mumbles. "You were pregnant, too, you know. You know how it is."_

_"It's more than that."_

_There's a pause before Libber shakes her head and says. "Don't worry about me, Lilly. I'm totally fine."_

_"Where's Sushi? I haven't seen him around lately."_

_"Oh." Libber's face falls. "Cliff, uh, gave him to a shelter."_

_"He_ what _?"_

_"Yeah. I hadn't really been taking him on many walks and he got restless and chewed up Cliff's shoes. I'm kinda bummed out, but I mean, it was my fault anyway."_

_"_ Bummed out _?" Lilly repeats. "You loved that dog, Libber! You got him when you were_ sixteen _!"_

_"I know, but it's not like there's anything I can do about it. Cliff said I'm not allowed to get anymore pets."_

_"Wha-" Lilly sputters. "And you're just fine with that?"_

_"I mean, yeah." Libber shrugs. "I've got a lot on my plate right now. I don't really have time for a dog anyway."_

_"What exactly_ do _you have on your plate?"_

_"Just...stuff," Libber says. "I should probably go now. See you later."_

_Lilly tries to object, but Libber is out the door before she can do anything else about it._

* * *

"Hey, kiddo. You alright?"

Jay opens his eyes in confusion, wincing at the bright light. The voice is just a voice again; there's no physical body, but the light switches off. "What...happened?" He mumbles.

"That's...sort of a long story."

Jay closes his eyes again. He doesn't really feel any better than he does when he woke up on the grey beach. In fact, if it's even possible, he feels _worse_. He kicks the covers off of himself, because he's decided that the sweating is worse than the chills at the moment.

"It's nice to finally meet you."

Jay hums in response. "'s nice to meet you too," he yawns. "Can I have a glass of water?"

"There's already one on the nightstand."

"Oh, thanks." Jay downs the whole thing in ten seconds and then collapses back on the bed, panting. "Am I sick? I feel sick."

"You're not sick."

"Oh, good. I hate being sick."

"It will take you a while to recover from that, though."

"Recover from what?"

There's a long pause. "I promise I'll explain everything eventually. How about you go back to sleep for a while?"

Jay certainly doesn't have any objections to that. "Okay," he yawns.

There's a small clicking noise, which Jay assumes means the voice has left. He rolls over, which takes a lot more energy than it should.

Why does everything feel so _hard_? He can barely sit up on his own. Jay doesn't think he's ever felt so tired in his life. Maybe he needs food? When was the last time he ate, anyway?

The growl that his stomach gives indicates that it's probably been a while. "Hey, voice?" he says weakly. "I'm hungry."

He gets no response.

Groaning, Jay stands up, only to immediately have to sit down again because his vision starts to go black. After a minute, it returns to normal.

His heart is pounding. Not because he's scared, just because it seems to think he's just run a marathon for some reason. Jay leans against the wall, panting, and opens the door.

...there's nothing there.

It's not a wall. It's not an empty field or anything. It's just... _nothing_.

A sinking feeling of dread makes itself known in his stomach. Suddenly Jay doesn't feel so hungry anymore. He slams the door shut and jumps back into bed.

_Something's wrong._

Jay hurriedly pulls his phone out of his pocket. "Why is it at four percent?" he cries. He tries to zap it so that it'll charge, but nothing happens. "Okay, okay, whatever. I'll be quick. I just need to call someone t-"

"Don't."

The voice is back. Jay jumps. "What?"

"Don't bother. They won't care."

"But...but I..." Jay's finger hovers above Cole's contact. "Yeah they will! They're, they're my friends! They wouldn't..."

"They just let you leave, didn't they? They didn't even try to go after you."

"But, but they tried to convince me to stay. I...I have nobody else to-"

"You have me."

Jay's hands are shaking, and this time it's not just because of his low blood sugar. "I don't even know who you are!" he cries. "I don't know what's happening! I just wanna go home!"

"I'm on your side, Jay. You're safe, I promise. Now, put the phone down."

"But-"

"Put. The phone. Down."

* * *

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	10. Everything Is Perfect

"Lilly, you just got home after being in the hospital for over a month, and all you've done this entire time is hide out in the attic."

"I know. I'm sorry, I just..."

There's a long enough pause for Lou to sit down next to her and gently take the notebook out of her shaky hands to put it back in the box. Lilly's expression is blank.

"She can't have...she...she didn't do it on purpose. She would never hurt me. Something must have happened, but I can't remember what. That whole day is still blurry. Why haven't I gotten it back yet?"

"I don't know, Lilly. You might never remember. We have no idea what this is going to do to you."

"I can't even feel it most of the time. I don't think it's a problem."

"You _don't think it's_ -" Lou begins, but he cuts himself off. He sighs. "Never mind. Will you please just...come downstairs? We missed you."

Lilly closes the box. "I missed you too."

She's happy to be home, she really is.

But it's not just Libber's disappearance that's making her feel on edge.

Something doesn't feel right.

It feels like the world is holding its breath during the moments before something goes terribly wrong.

As the years pass and the lightning gets more and more painful, and it becomes more and more clear that she's not getting better, that feeling only worsens.

She went on meds for anxiety for a while when Cole was a toddler, but they never helped. Nothing did.

It stays with her up until her final breath, and she never finds out why.

In this lifetime, at least.

* * *

Jay can't tell how long he's been in this room.

Maybe it's due to the fact that he's been drifting in and out of consciousness, or maybe it's because he's never had a good sense of time to begin with, but something just...doesn't feel right. The best way he can explain it is as if it's been an eternity of no time passing at all.

Jay shivers. The voice thing had given him a bowl of soup earlier, but he's so tired and in so much pain that he can't even sit up to eat it. He stares at it on the nightstand from his position curled up on the bed, his mouth watering and his stomach growling.

_It's probably cold by now anyway,_ he thinks, to try and convince himself he's not missing much, but at this point he'd willingly eat Cole's cooking.

He's _so_ _hungry_ , and the food is _right there_ , but he can't do anything about it and it's driving him _insane_. Grunting, he tries to will his arm to move so that he can reach it, but his fingertips just barely graze it. It's not close enough for him to grab.

Jay sighs and lets his arm go limp again. He doesn't understand why he's so tired.

He closes his eyes.

Sometimes when he opens his eyes again, the room looks slightly different. It's changed a few times since he first woke up here. He had an extra blanket for a while, but then he asked about the nothing outside the door again and it disappeared. Which sucks, because he's freezing.

"Hey, voice?" he whines. "Can I have the blanket back, please? I promise I won't ask you any more questions. I'm just really cold."

Nothing happens. He glances at his phone on the nightstand. He's surprised the voice hadn't taken it, but it's dead and he still hasn't been able to use his powers, so it won't do him any good. It just sits there on the table, taunting him.

Jay curls up in on himself tighter, in a position where his knees are almost touching his forehead. Everything hurts. He involuntarily whimpers as another wave of pain washes over him. It feels like the energy is being sucked out of him.

Despite himself, tears begin to well up in his eyes. He feels pathetic, lying here completely immobile and crying because he's in so much pain, but it isn't as if there's anyone around to see him.

...at least this bed is fairly comfortable?

He's scared to fall asleep again, but isn't long before he really can't keep himself awake any longer. It's taking all of his energy just to keep his eyes open.

Maybe he'll feel better when he wakes up.

* * *

"Okay, wait. Start over. What exactly is going on?"

"How many times do I have to say it? We're from an alternate timeline where Garmadon went evil, you guys were missing for the majority of me and Nya's lives, Lloyd is nineteen, Zane is titanium, and Ninjago City gets destroyed every other week! Is it really that hard to understand?"

Maya blinks. "Right. Kai, are you...are you feeling okay?"

"Mom, I know it's hard to believe, but he's telling the truth," Nya says. "We're not crazy. Trust me."

"Hey, nobody said you were crazy," says Ray, in a tone of voice that makes it clear that he does indeed think they're crazy.

"What are the odds that all of us are having the same delusion?" Zane points out.

"Right! Exactly! Either we're telling the truth, or all six of us have gone crazy over ni-"

"Wait," Maya interrupts. "Six?"

"Yeah...six. Me, Zane, Nya, Cole, Lloyd, and...um. Wait a minute. Me, Zane, Nya, Cole, Lloyd, and..." Kai counts them off on his fingers, furrowing his brows in confusion. "Wasn't there another one of us?"

"There...there was," Zane mumbles. "But I don't..." he pales, suddenly overcome with panic. "I...don't remember his name."

* * *

"Mom?" Cole says, looking over at her cautiously. "I promise I'm telling the truth. I'm not crazy. I know it sounds like a lot, but this," he gestures vaguely, glancing at all the pictures on the walls he'd never seen before, "this isn't right."

Lilly swallows, and takes a minute before replying. "So you're saying, where you're from, I died when you were thirteen, and now you're a ninja and know spinjitzu and...Ninjago City gets attacked every other week."

"I...yeah." Cole sighs. "I know it sounds crazy, but-"

"That sounds like a nightmare."

"I...guess it is sometimes," Cole agrees.

"Well then...why would you want to go back?"

Cole freezes. "What do you mean?"

"Why would you prefer that world over this one? Everyone's happy in this one, Cole. Nobody's an orphan, nobody's parents are evil, nobody ever died, and you don't have to carry the immense responsibility of saving the city from certain doom all the time. I mean, that's had to have affected you. But here, everything is _perfect._ "

"But it's not..." Cole swallows. "It's not _real_."

Lilly tucks his hair behind his ear and rests her hand on his cheek. "I'm real," she assures him gently. "I'm just as real as you."

Her hand is cool on his skin, and Cole leans into it. There are tears welling up in his eyes again. "I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm not...I don't...I don't know what to do."

"It's okay, baby, we'll figure it out." Lilly draws him in for a hug and he buries his face in her shoulder.

"I _wish_ everything could stay this way, but it _can't_. It's not right. I think first I just need to find Jay, becau-"

"Who's Jay?"

"Who's..." Cole pulls away from his mother. His eyes dart around the room looking for the picture he'd seen earlier with him and the rest of the team. "Who's...I..."

There's only five of them in the picture. Cole's skin crawls.

"I..." his voice cracks. "Jay. He's...he's the elemental master of lightning. He's...he's my best friend. I...his color is...I..." Cole staggers backwards. "No. No, no, no, no, _why can't I remember_? It...it feels li-"

Unfortunately, Cole is unable to finish his sentence, because before he can even finish that word, the world goes black again.

* * *

_"You failed."_

_"No. I'm much closer this time. I can do it, I promise. You just need to give me more time._

_"You know he's not an endless supply, right? If you overexert him too much you'll kill him, and then he'll be useless. Remember what happened to the last one."_

_"The last one didn't die, actually_ _. I still have him in case I need a back-up."_

_"It doesn't MATTER. There are only so many times you can-"_

_"Shut up. I know."_

...

[INITIATING_REBOOT]

[PLEASE_STAND_BY]

* * *

In another world, they probably could have been heroes.

They practically have superpowers, after all—they'd probably be able to stand up to all sorts of villains, had there ever been a need. They would have made a really good crime-fighting team. In another world, maybe they were.

But not in this world. In this world, there's no need for heroes.

There are no villains or people who need saving. There are no problems or trials or wars, and every ending is always a happily-ever-after.

In this world, everything is _perfect_.

Kai sighs happily, laying down the grass next to his best friends. Just the five of them, like it had always been.

Well, maybe not _always_. When Lloyd was younger Kai would often find it annoying that he'd always follow them around instead of hanging out with kids his own age, but he's fourteen now, and pretty mature for his age, so Kai doesn't mind it so much anymore. He's like a little brother to him, and it would feel empty if he wasn't there.

Same thing with Nya: when they were younger they hadn't always gotten along so well, but they'd gotten closer as they got older, and now he considers his sister one of his best friends.

Zane is a robot, so he was never technically a kid, but Kai had known him since _he_ was a kid, so that's how he thought of him. Same with Cole.

Speaking of which...

"Hey, Cole?" Kai says, propping himself up on his elbows. "You doing okay? You've been pretty quiet."

Cole blinks. "Yeah. I'm fine," he says. "I just...does anyone else feel like something's...wrong?"

"Like what?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like I'm forgetting about something."

Kai shrugs. "It probably isn't that important if you forgot about it."

Cole nods slowly. "You're probably right. I just...are you sure? Nobody else feels like..."

"I assure you, everything seems completely normal to me," Zane says.

"Right. You're right. I'm just being paranoid." Cole sighs.

Kai flicks him in the forehead. "Yeah. Relax, dude. Everything's fine."

It is. Everything's always been fine. It's almost unreal, how perfect things always seem to go for them, but Kai's not complaining. He lays back down again, his hands folded behind his head.

Life is good.

* * *

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	11. Some Kind of Forever

"Dude, you don't need to look for colleges this early. You're like, twelve," Kai says, leaning against the kitchen counter and grabbing a bag of M&Ms from Lloyd's cupboard.

"I'm _fourteen_ ," Lloyd corrects him indignantly. "And yes, I do, because I don't want to end up like _you_."

Kai makes an offended-sounding noise. "Excuse me, but I think _everybody_ should strive to end up like me."

Lloyd rolls his eyes. "Are you ever actually going to college, or are you just gonna work at the blacksmith shop for the rest of your life?"

"I dunno. I'll figure it out eventually. But you say that like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with me being a blacksmith?"

"Well...nothing, I guess, but...why are you in my house anyway?"

Kai frowns. "Okay, so you know when you walk into a room and forget what you were going to do?"

"Did you seriously break into my house and then forget why?"

"I did not break into your house! Your dad let me in! And no, surprisingly, I _do_ know why I'm here. I've been...really absent-minded lately."

"Why should I care?"

Kai scoffs. "That is no way to talk to the world's best babysitter."

Lloyd's ears turn red. "I was eight! Are you ever going to let that go?"

"Nope. That is my favorite mug. I drink my coffee in it every morning."

Lloyd huffs in frustration, shutting his laptop because he's obviously not going to get any more work done while Kai is still here. "Okay! What do you want!"

"Oh. Right. So, you know how Cole's been acting super weird and paranoid lately?"

"Yeah?"

"I mean...he's still crazy, definitely. But I'm starting to think he might not actually be _that_ crazy."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." Kai blinks. "Okay, I don't actually know what I mean. I just...something feels kinda off. Have you noticed it too?"

Lloyd adopts a pensive expression on his face, looking out the window for a minute before giving his answer. "Kind of," he says. "But I feel like it's just my imagination in my case. Or maybe I'm not getting enough sleep or something. I just...well, yesterday when I woke up and saw my dad, for a few seconds I was...surprised? Like I didn't think he was supposed to be here for some reason?"

"No, that's actually exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about!" Kai exclaims excitedly. "I felt the same way when I saw my parents. And then I almost got lost in my own house, even though we moved like seven years ago. It was like I'd never seen it before."

"Do you...do you think something bad is going on?" Lloyd asks softly.

Kai pauses. "I don't know," he answers honestly. "It's...probably nothing. Just something I want to keep an eye on."

* * *

_"She's...Lilly, what do you mean she's_ gone _?"_

_"I mean she's gone! I woke up in the hospital with lightning fused to my nervous system. I had been out for almost two weeks at that point, and I...I apparently was admitted the same day Libber disappeared."_

_Maya shakily sits down on the couch next to Lilly after putting Kai (who had finally fallen asleep) back in the bassinet in the corner of the room. She runs her hand through her hair, taking a long breath before speaking again. "And nobody knows where she went? What about Cliff?"_

_"That piece of shit? He already has a new girlfriend. I don't think he even cares that his own wife is gone," she huffs._

_Maya shakes her head slowly. "I can't believe it," she mumbles. "There were no clues?"_

_"Well...I have some of her stuff in a box in my attic. Her notebook's in there, but I haven't been able to make any sense of it. The words I_ have _been able to make out have just been complete nonsense. It's like...like she'd been going insane this entire time and nobody even noticed."_

_"I mean, she had been a little flakier than usual, especially after she got pregnant. Apparently when Ray went to talk to her the day after I'd already told her we were moving, she freaked out like she didn't have any memory of it."_

_"I noticed she'd been acting weird too. I didn't think there was anything wrong, though. I was just distracted, because I'd just had the baby, but..." Lilly bites her lip. "I should have done something. Maybe she's still be here if-"_

_"Lilly, stop. First of all, none of this is your fault. Second of all, you're talking about her like she's dead. We don't know what happened. There's still a chance we can find her."_

_Lilly doesn't answer for a few minutes. "Maybe," she says finally._

* * *

Jay lies on the bed staring at the ceiling for a long time before he remembers where he is.

His head feels all foggy, like his thoughts are moving in slow motion and he can't get them to speed up. This is unusual. Normally he has the opposite problem, especially when he'd just woken up from a nightmare.

It hadn't started off as a nightmare. It had started off as a really good dream, actually—he was back on the Bounty with all his friends, and everything was completely normal and they were all happy and everything was great. But then, something had shifted. The room had gone black for a second, and then when he could see again, the sky was dark and moon was blood red and everyone was staring at him. "What are you doing here?" Zane had asked.

"What do you mean?" Jay had replied. "I live here."

Nya had her hand on a shuriken on her belt. She was looking at him like he was crazy. "You don't _live_ here," she had said. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"But...what are you talking about? I'm Jay. The lightning ninja, remember? I -"

"Look, buddy, how about we get you back to whatever nuthouse you walked out of and call it a night, okay?" Kai had said. "I don't want to hurt you, but if you don't get off our ship-"

"What are you talking about? It's me! It's Jay!"

"I don't know anybody named Jay! You're not one of us! You don't belong here!"

_You don't belong here._ The walls were singing at him tauntingly, and his teammates' eyes had gone pitch black, and they were all staring at him, and he had tried to run, but his feet were glued to the floor, which was also singing at him, and...

And that's when he woke up. He shivers, squeezing his eyes shut. Nightmares weren't exactly a rarity among the team. They all got them, almost routinely. It used to embarrass him, but not even Kai had ever made fun of him or anyone else because of them. In fact, although usually Cole was who Jay always went to, while they were fighting, Kai would be the one to stay up with him and help him through the panic attacks he got after nightmares about Zane dying.

They...they couldn't hate him _that_ much, could they?

Had they even noticed he was gone? Had they just accepted that he quit and forgot about him? If he ever found out how to get out of here, would they even let him come back? What if he's ju-

_Click._

Jay freezes.

A sickly, panicky feeling settles in his chest as he hears the door behind him open and somebody come in the room.

He can't even sit up right now, how is he going to be able to defend himself? What if whoever it is attacks him or tries to kill him? He's going to die here, alone, and nobody will ever know or care.

The door closes. There's a few moments of silence before the person speaks. "Uh...hi."

Jay blinks, confused. That doesn't sound like the same voice that he's heard all the other times. It's softer and more feminine, without the threatening distortedness. Is it the same person, just without the voice modifier? Or are there more people than he initially thought?

Both of those explanations make him a bit uneasy, so he decides to focus on the voice of the person in his room right now. "Listen, I...I'm sorry about all this. I really am. This is not how things were supposed to go."

Jay's vision is a bit blurry, but he can make out long blonde hair and a freckled face as the woman sits down on the edge of the bed next to him.

"So, um...how are you feeling?"

Jay doesn't answer.

He must look stupid, staring at her blankly while breathing through his mouth because his sinuses hurt when he breathes through his nose, but she doesn't seem to care. "I, uh, brought you a few things," she says.

She snaps her fingers and produces a thermos and a fuzzy blue blanket. Jay might have questioned how she summoned those things out of thin air had he been feeling better, but he doesn't give it a second thought. He tries grabbing the blanket, but he's still pretty much paralyzed with pain, so he doesn't get very far. "'M cold," he rasps. Okay, gosh, his voice sounds pathetic.

The woman throws the blanket over him. "Oh, um...I also got you a smoothie," she says, gesturing to the thermos. "I figured it would be easier than trying to eat solid food. Do you think I could help you sit up so you can drink it?"

He has no idea who this lady is, but Jay is just so desperate for any sort of comfort that he accepts her help with no hesitation, latching onto her as tight as he can with his useless muscles as she helps him sit up and burying his face in her shoulder while silent tears run down his cheeks. She runs her hand through his hair and pulls the blanket back up around him. "Shh. You're okay," she murmurs. "I promise the worst of it is over. You'll feel better soon."

He closes his eyes. For some reason he feels safe in this woman's arms. He shouldn't. He has no idea where he is. He has no idea what's going on. He should _not_ be letting his guard down right now.

But it isn't as if a choice anyway. He can't even sit up on his own.

"Okay, I know you're hungry, but don't chug it all at once, Jay. You're gonna make yourself sick," she advises.

"'M already sick," he slurs. "An' really hungry."

"You're not sick," she says. "Well I mean, not sick as if you have a virus. The Other does use..." she trails off. "Never mind."

Jay's too tired to wonder what she's talking about. She sets the thermos on the nightstand once he's done with it and then starts to pull away.

In a flurry of panic, he tightens his grip on her. "D-don't leave," he chokes. "Please."

She lays him back down in bed and looks at him sadly. "I wish I could stay, honey, but I'm really not supposed to be in here. I promise I'll try to find a way to visit you again soon, okay?"

Jay still isn't too happy about the idea of being left alone here indefinitely again, but he reluctantly nods his head. "Thanks, mom," he murmurs without thinking, because that's what he calls anyone who takes care of him when he's sick and delusional.

The woman stands there a long time before wiping the hair away from his eyes and planting a gentle kiss on his forehead. "You're welcome, my little bluebird."

* * *

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	12. The Annex

"Are you sure there's nothing else we can do?"

"He'll be fine."

"I...I know, but he's so weak. He can barely move."

"So? We don't need him to. We just need the energy. Didn't I tell you not to get attached to him?"

"He's my _kid_. I was _already_ attached to him."

"This is about more than just Jay, Libber. This is about the entire universe. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good."

Libber opens her mouth as if she's about to say something else, but she thinks better of it. "Right."

* * *

"Cole, will you just-"

"No! Let me think. I...I don't know how I could have...I just..."

Zane puts a hand on Cole's arm to make him stop pacing. "How about you sit down?" he suggests.

"No. Just...quiet. I...I can't...it's _gone_. I just...it was something really, really important, but I _can't remember what it was_."

"Alright, just calm down. Can you remember _anything_ about the dream?"

Cole closes his eyes and rubs his temples. "No," he growls. "No, it's all gone! But it was...it was really important, and I..."

"Okay," Zane says gently. "Let's calm down."

"I AM CALM!"

"Stop yelling," Zane replies patiently.

Cole growls and collapses face-first onto the couch. "I had it figured out! Why can't I remember?"

"I don't know, but panicking and yelling at me isn't going to help you. Sit up, please."

Reluctantly, Cole complies. He crosses his arms, stubbornly refusing to look at Zane.

Zane sits next to him. "Alright. What's the first thing you remember about this morning?"

"I don't remember anything!" Cole cries.

"That's not true. You remember that you remembered something, otherwise you wouldn't have come over here and you wouldn't be so upset right now."

Cole runs his hand through his hair. "Okay. So, I..." he draws in a long breath. "I, I woke up this morning and I felt...like everything made sense."

"Explain."

"Like...you know how everyone's been feeling really weird lately? Like, how we all feel surprised about our parents being here even though they always have been?"

Zane nods. Dr. Julien had built and raised him and had lived with him his entire life, yet for for some reason when he'd woken up a few days ago he'd gotten oddly choked up over breakfast when the inventor had made him waffles, as if he couldn't believe he was there. Additionally, when he'd gone to the monastery to talk to Master Wu, it felt empty, in a way that he couldn't quite explain, that made him feel uneasy.

Cole sighs. "I had a dream last night, and it had reminded me of something."

"Was it a good dream or a bad dream?"

"Bad," Cole answers immediately. "I can't remember anything that happened in it, except I felt...cold and panicked. _Really_ cold and panicked. I wasn't cold when I woke up. I was definitely panicked, though. I just...it felt like something that had actually happened before, even though I don't think it did. I...I think it was supposed to, though."

"What do you mean it was supposed to?"

"I don't know! That's all I remember, and I...this is so frustrating! I had it! I had the answer, Zane, and it's just...it's just _gone_."

Zane exhales slowly. "Okay. I know this is frustrating, but I don't think this is enough to go off of. There's only so much we can do, Cole."

"You believe me though, right? You don't think I'm crazy?"

"No. I don't think you're crazy. I think you're right. There's definitely something strange going on."

* * *

Good news: Jay is able to roll over now.

Bad news: That's not a very useful skill to have anymore now that he's accidentally rolled off the bed. The floor isn't anywhere near comfortable no matter what position he puts himself in, and there's no way he's going to be able to climb back up.

He has been feeling stronger since he'd had something to eat a while ago. (How long ago was that? Had it been hours? Days? Weeks? It's impossible to tell.) But now he's shivering uncontrollably on the cold floor, considerably worse off than he was earlier. Especially because he's closer to the door.

He can see under the crack. Not that there's anything _to_ see, of course. It's just...darkness.

Jay shivers. He's _so_ cold, and _so_ tired. It's as if all of the warmth in his body is being sucked out of him, along with all of his energy and...and his lightning, too.

After he'd started the absorbing lightning trick, he had been able to feel it constantly, burning under his skin, buzzing and restless and powerful. But now, he only feels silence. There's nothing there. Not even his normal powers.

Sure, he'd lost his powers before. That was nothing new. But this feels different somehow. It isn't that they're gone, or that they're inaccessible. They're being _drained_. He feels like he's been constantly using them for the entire time he's been in this room (an god knows how long _that's_ been) even though he hasn't detected a _hint_ of electricity.

Jay whimpers, curling in on himself. What about his frien- his former teammates? Did they even notice he was gone? Even if they did hate him, wasn't their whole thing saving people? Why did they even hate him in the first place again?

Jay can't remember. The details are so blurry. He vaguely remembers feeling angry at them, but he can't remember why and he definitely doesn't care anymore. All he wants right now is to go home. He wants to go to sleep in his own bed with all the blankets they own-

No, scratch that. He wants to sleep with all the blankets they own on the couch in the living room with his head on Nya's lap as she runs her fingers through his hair and tells him that he's safe, and Cole sitting in front of him holding his hand, and everyone else in the room where he can see them and know that they're there and that they would never let this ever happen to him again and-

Is...is that okay?

...is he allowed to want to be comforted when he's so cold and miserable and scared?

Is he allowed to daydream about it, even though he knows it's never going to happen, because his friends hate him and he can't even remember why and they're not even going to look for him and he's just going to be stuck here until he dies?

Well, shit, now he's crying. That's even more pathetic.

Jay chokes out a pitiful-sounding sob, not even having the energy to reach up and wipe the tears away from his eyes. He should be _better_ than this. He should _not_ be lying on the ground crying because he's scared and missing his friends who don't even want him around. He's supposed to be a _hero_. What would Ninjago think of their beloved blue ninja now?

_Look at yourself. You're pathetic. Nobody's coming to save you._

Hadn't the woman promised she'd come see him again? Had she forgotten about him too? What if she-

_Thud._

Jay pauses the rambling going on in his head for a moment. Was that...a noise? It hadn't come from inside his room. But the only thing _outside_ of his room was the nothing.

His heartbeat feels fluttery.

Maybe it was just his imagination.

There isn't anything outside his room. How could the noise have come from there?

Jay squints, trying peek through the crack under the door. It's still completely dark. There's nothing...there's...there's, there's nothing...

Jay inadvertently lets out a yelp when he feels an enormous wave of energy wash over him.

The relief is instantaneous.

The pain is still there, but all of the sudden he can move again, and his brain seems to be clear of the sticky haze that had been restricting his ability to think clearly. Jay jolts upright. "What the heck just happened?" he asks out loud.

As if answering his question, a robotic-sounding voice that comes seemingly from nowhere startles him when it booms, " _Error. Battery Prime has been disconnected from the system. Attempting to regain control now_."

Jay's blood runs cold. He can feel the fog slowly start to creep back in the corners of his mind, and he struggles to stand up as his knees begin to buckle beneath him.

He does _not_ want to be a battery. He does _not_ want to be stuck in this room anymore. He wants _out_.

Even so, he doesn't know what in the 16 realms made him think that what he does next is a good idea.

* * *

"Have you ever heard of Last Thursdayism?"

"That sounds made-up."

"No, it's not, I read a Wikipedia article on it this one time."

Nya rolls her eyes. "Okay, then. What's Last Thursdayism?"

"Okay, so it's like..." Kai pauses, drumming his fingers on the table with a look on his face that suggests he's deep in thought. "It's the idea that the world was created last Thursday. Like, all our memories and surroundings and everything have been fixed to make us believe it's been much longer than that, but we've actually only been around for like, five days. As stupid as that sounds, there's really no way you can disprove it."

"That's...interesting? Why are you bringing it up now?"

"I'm not saying I think that's true exactly, but...what if...this isn't what reality is supposed to be?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Kai frowns. "Remember what Cole told us this morning? About his dream and how he felt like even though it didn't happen it was supposed to? And you know how we've been feeling all weird about our parents? And how everything just feels...not quite right? I'm not saying the world was _invented_ five days ago, but...what if it was...changed?"

"Changed? What do y-"

* * *

"I'm starting to wonder if it's even possible."

"Of course it's possible. You're just not doing it right."

"I'm doing the reality-weaving piece just fine! I just can't get them to completely forget, no matter how many times I reboot it!"

"Maybe we need to try another approach."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we need Nightwa-"

_"Error. Battery Prime has been disconnected from the system. Attempting to regain control now."_

The color drains from Libber's face. "No. No, that can't...how could they have..."

The cloaked figure beside her scowls. "Activate the Nightwalker, Liberty."

"A-are you sure?"

"Without a power source, reality will come unraveled. Nightwalker will be fine. He can handle it."

"It's...it's not him I'm worried about. Don't you think he would just make things worse?"

"No, I don't. You need a power source to keep things stable."

"Nightwalker isn't exactly what I'd call _stable_."

"It'll work for now. Do it."

" _Error. Battery Prime not detected."_

"I...I just..."

" _Now_ , Libber!"

Libber pushes the button.

...

_[INITIATING_REBOOT]_

_[PLEASE_STAND_BY]_

* * *

Everything is perfect. And everything always has been.

The uneasy feeling in the pit of Cole's stomach is entirely irrational.

Nothing's wrong.

Nothing ever goes wrong.

There are no villains or people who need saving. There are no problems or trials or wars, and every ending is always a happily-ever-after.

Everything is perfect. Everything is fine.

Always has been.

Always.

* * *

It's always cold in the abyss.

Time doesn't really exist in the In Between. It might have been a month. It might have been ten years. There's really no way to say for sure.

The only thing he knows anymore is that he is very, very, cold, and very, very, lonely. Also, admittedly, very, very bored.

There's nothing left to do but wait.

The sensory deprivation hallucinations kept him entertained for a while, but they stopped visiting after the fifth time he tried to kill the apparition of Nightwalker, like they had all gotten offended and left. He didn't think that's how hallucinations worked, but it probably didn't matter in the In Between. Especially in the deepest part.

There's no logic left here. There's no light, no space, and no time. The Annex is the Mariana's Trench of reality.

His first thought when he heard screaming is that the hallucinations had come back.

That would have been fine with him. They weren't always very fun, but at this point even nightmares are better than nothing.

However, when he hears a thud and a very faint, faraway voice say, _"Battery Prime not detected,"_ he feels his blood run cold. Colder than it's gone since the last time he saw Nightwalker.

He looks up.

Eyes, as startlingly blue as his own. Freckles identical to the ones on his face. Dark auburn curls that look too familiar to be a coincidence. They're not _completely_ identical—the other boy is clearly older than him by at least a few years, but thirteen-year-old Beta Jay has seen other versions of himself, and there's no doubt that this is one of them.

Not just any version of him, though. This is the original. From the main timeline, that Beta Jay's timeline had branched off from.

_It's Jay Prime._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Just so we're perfectly clear, 'beta' means 'two' in Greek. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with a/b/o dynamics.)
> 
> Anyway, that was a lot to unpack. It's all still probably pretty confusing to you who, unlike me, do not have five pages' worth of notes on the extensive backstory behind the origins of the In Between, the Annex, the mysterious cloaked figure, and all of the different versions of Jay (and Libber.)
> 
> :)


	13. The Worst of Both Worlds

_The first time she meets Shadow face to face, Libber Prime has already gone mostly crazy._

_Everything tastes like radio silence and smells like TV static. Everything sounds like the color grey and everything she touches feels bitter and empty. Libber isn't caught even a little off guard when the mirror shifts._

_Shadow Libber is beautiful and charismatic and brilliant and put-together. She is everything Libber isn't. She is everything Libber wants to be._

_"Are you ready?" she says._

_"I am," Libber replies. Her voice doesn't waver. She isn't scared._

_She should be._

* * *

_It's Jay Prime._

Beta Jay feels his heartbeat quicken. He backs away, eyes fixed on his other self in terror. The last version of himself he'd met hadn't been so nice. However, that one was from a parallel timeline, not a branch. So maybe...maybe this one isn't so bad?

He doesn't _look_ scary. In fact, he looks really confused. And not very well put-together. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his hair is slightly matted on the same side as the red mark on his cheek, suggesting he'd been asleep for a while. Beta Jay doesn't blame him. Being a battery is exhausting.

He swallows hard, looking Jay Prime up and down a few times before the latter finally speaks.

"I have a lot of questions."

Beta Jay stares at him for a moment. "Um," he croaks, wincing at how hoarse his voice sounds from lack of use. "What are they?"

Jay Prime wastes no time. "Where the heck are we? What is this place? Why are we standing on nothing? How can we breathe in here? Who are you? Why do you look like me from six years ago? What's going on? How many people are in this place? How...oh. Sorry," he says, realizing how overwhelmed the other boy appears to be.

Beta Jay opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to figure out what to tell him. "Um," he mumbles. "I...I, uh...can you...c-can you do one at a time, please?"

"Oh. Right. So, what is this place?"

"This is th-the Annex. It's...it's the deepest part of the In Between. There's nothing here because it's too far away from reality."

"Ah. I see," Jay says, even though he clearly does not. "So...who are you?"

"It's...it's me," Beta sputters.

"Who's 'me?'"

"You."

"Hey, don't be snarky with me!"

"I'm not being snarky with you. I really am you."

"You're me?"

"Yes."

"...huh." Jay scratches his head. "So how are we in the same room?"

"Because your mom ruined the fabric of spacetime."

"Well, hey, if we're the same person then she's your mom too."

Beta Jay frowns. "No she isn't. My mom...my mom was Beta Libber. Your mom is Libber Prime."

Jay blinks. "Okay, so does that make me Jay Prime?"

"Y-yeah."

"And you're Beta Jay?"

"Yes. I'm, I'm actually from a timeline that b-branches off from yours, which is why you're Jay Prime."

"Oh. Okay. So how long have you been here?"

"I...I don't know. Time doesn't exist here. I was thirteen when I got here. Probably a lot of time has passed in the real world, but you can't tell here."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"How did you get here?"

Beta Jay doesn't answer that one. He swallows, looking up at Jay Prime with wide eyes. "A-are you really real?"

"Uh...yes? I think so?"

There's a second long pause before before Beta Jay bursts into tears.

Jay doesn't know what he was expecting to happen when he walked out into the nothing, but consoling a sobbing thirteen-year-old version of himself from another timeline was not a possibility he'd considered. Beta Jay is tiny in his arms, much smaller than he was when he was that age. He wonders if it's a side-effect of being in the In Between for what must have been a very long time in real time, or if that's just how he was in the other timeline. Either way, this tiny, shaking boy that's latched onto him like he's afraid he's going to disappear any second seems younger than thirteen.

"I've b-been down...down here al-alone for such...such a long t-time, and I..."

"Shh. It's okay. You're not alone anymore," Jay soothes, though he feels kind of awkward about it since technically he's talking to himself.

Beta, however, either doesn't notice the irony in that, or doesn't care.

"Okay, buddy, if you wanna get out of here you're going to have to tell me what's going on," Jay says awkwardly.

Beta Jay shakes his head against Jay Prime's chest. "No," he chokes. "No way out. We're stuck."

"There can't be _no_ way out. There was a way in."

"But it's all the way up," Beta mumbles, pointing to the light from above where the door to the room is. "And we can't go that way, or else they'll find you again." His lip quivers and he clings tight to Jay again, nestling his head in the crook of Jay's neck.

"But, aren't there other places? That can't be the only way out, because the only way out of there is here."

"Don't know," is the only answer Beta gives.

Jay sighs and stands up, hoisting Beta up onto his hip. "Okay. Let's look."

"You can't."

"I can't what?"

"If...if you get away from the door, you can't see anything and it's dark and scary and it goes on forever and ever."

Jay bites his lip. "Do you still have your powers?"

Immediately Beta's head jerks up and hits Jay in the chin. "NO!" he screams, now trying to get away from him. "No, I don't wanna use them! Y-you can't make me!"

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on!" Gently, Jay sets him down, and kneels down so that he can look him in the eyes. "I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to, okay? I'm just trying to problem-solve."

Beta looks at him, still cautious, but nods his head.

"Okay. Are you okay if I use my powers? I think I have them back now that I'm not being used as a battery."

"Lighting's scary," Beta mumbles.

"But it'll help us be able to see in the dark, okay? I promise I'm not gonna hurt you."

"...okay." Beta reaches for Jay to pick him up again.

He's not very heavy—in fact, he's so light it's sort of worrying. Jay shifts so that his left hand is free and sparks start to dance on his fingertips. When this happens, he can feel Beta start to shiver in fear. It's a bit weird looking down and seeing himself, but the haunted look in Beta's eyes, which are fixated on Jay's left hand, is something he knows he's never seen before on his thirteen-year-old self. Jesus, what had happened to this kid? "Hey, buddy?" he says softly. "I promise I'm here to help. I'm not going to hurt you."

Beta nods and buries his face in Jay's shoulder. Jay pauses for a moment, until he feels Beta calm down a little bit. Then he starts to walk into the nothing.

* * *

"Zane? Zane, are you okay?"

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know, he just... _froze_." Kai frowns, waving his hand in front of Zane's face again. "He was in the middle of explaining some boring math thing to me, but then all of the sudden he stopped talking. He...he isn't even blinking."

"Should we call Dr. Julien?" Cole suggests.

"I...I guess? I think he's in Ninjago City right now, though, so it would take a while for him to get here."

"Okay. Um, I'll call him. You keep an eye on Zane."

Kai's eyes had never left Zane in the first place. "Come on, buddy, what's going on?" he mumbles, once Cole is out of the room. The nindroid's eyes are still their same icy blue, except the glow is a bit dimmer. He can still hear the quiet whir of Zane's internal computers working, but something doesn't quite sound right. There's something _wrong._ "Zane?" Kai whispers. He takes Zane's hand, and is taken aback. It feels _warm_. Zane's hands are always cold.

He gets no reply.

No, no, no, this _can't_ be right. This can't be happening. Is he shutting down? Is he...Kai feels tears prickle in the corners of his eyes. "Zane? Zane, buddy, you've gotta wake up. You're scaring me."

Zane doesn't wake up.

His eyes go dimmer.

The sound of the cogs working within him slows down.

Kai jumps. Not because of Zane's worsening condition, although that's startling too. A computerized voice that sounds like it's coming from Zane but sounds nothing like him starts speaking, in a distorted voice. _"Instructions,"_ it says. " _Look through the telescope to find the Red Door. Do not open if there's knocking on the other side. The seeds are for the Nightwalker. It's not over until there are no more rips in the sky."_

* * *

Everything is so _loud_.

Nightwalker paces back and forth in his cell, his hands clamped over his ears and a sour expression on his face.

Everything is too loud and too bright and too much and too... _why won't they shut up_?

He makes a noise that's something halfway between a hiss and a growl, glowering at the woman in the doorway. She's trying to talk to him, but he can't tell what she's saying over all the feedback he's picking up from the Outside.

She looks angry now. Nightwalker growls again, pausing his pacing so that he can bang his head against the wall. It's so _loud_. Why don't they ever shut up? The noise is _constant_. He never stops hearing their voices. They just go over and over and over again in his head...

"Please calm down. You're hurting yourself."

He sinks down to the floor and stares up at the woman. She could probably do something to stop it, but she doesn't know what's wrong.

He doesn't know how to tell her. He doesn't remember how to form words. Most of the time he can't even think in words, and he can barely understand them. Nightwalker closes his eyes and whines, resting his head in his hands.

"Listen, darling," the woman hums, sitting down beside him. Nightwalker slumps over and rests his head on her lap. It's still loud, but he feels a bit calmer. He likes it when his mother comes to visit him. He feels sorry for growling at her. She gently traces her finger along the jagged scars that pepper his face, humming tunelessly. "Baby, I know you're upset, but I need you to help me for a bit. You think you can do that?"

Nightwalker nods.

"Alright. We need you to power the Machine for a bit while we get everything sorted out. Prime is missing."

Prime? Oh, she must be talking about Jay Prime. Nightwalker didn't know they'd found him, but it makes sense. His mother had predicted that Jay Prime would be the most powerful version, since he came from the main timeline and wasn't completely messed up.

Powering the Machine was always quite painful, and it didn't exactly help with the constant noise in his head, but right now Nightwalker is just glad his mother's talking to him again. He was afraid she'd never come see him again after what he did last time. She had been really mad.

She seems to have forgotten all about that, though. She's acting as if she has no memory of the last time she came to visit him, when she had supercharged the lightbulb so that the bright light and overactive electricity would give him a seizure. Then she'd gotten mad at him again when he threw up because of it, even though it was _her fault_ because she _knew_ that's what bright lights do to him...

…No. No, it wasn't her fault. Nightwalker's mother doesn't do anything wrong. If she had punished him like that it was because he deserved it.

He should have listened better.

_~~It's so hard to listen when everything sounds like static eating his brain. Everything hurts. His head hurts. His stomach hurts. His back hurts. His eye hurts. Everything is pain and everything is loud and everything is-~~ _

Nightwalker nods. He'd do it for his mother. He loves her. And she loves him back.

* * *

00100010 01001001 00101110 00101110 00101110 01001001 00100000 01100011 01100001 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00101110 00100010 00001010 00001010 00100010 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00101110 00100010 00001010 00001010 00100010 01011001 01101111 01110101 00101110 00101110 00101110 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01001011 01001001 01001100 01001100 01000101 01000100 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100001 00100000 01010111 01101000 01111001 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00111111 00100010 00001010 00001010 00100010 01000100 01101111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110000 01101111 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01110101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101101 01110101 01101100 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110011 01100101 00111111 00100010 00001010 00001010 00100010 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100010 00001010 00001010 00100010 01000100 01101001 01100100 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01110011 01101111 00101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 00100000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110011 01100001 01111001 00101110 00100010

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody:
> 
> Jay: Well it looks like I've adopted myself


	14. Deja Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: one of the scenes in this chapter mentions abuse and torture in a somewhat graphic way, so please read with caution.

"So...what's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Right. I probably could have guessed that one. What's your favorite...animal?"

"Cats."

"Me too! What's your favorite pizza topping?"

"Pineapples."

"No way! That's my favorite pizza topping, too!"

"I know. It's because we're the same person."

"Well...I'm sure there's gotta be _something_ we don't have in common." Jay looks over at Beta with a frown. He hadn't been able to get any more useful information out of him, so he'd resorted to small talk so that he could at least keep him talking, in an effort to calm him down. It seems to have worked, as Beta seems less scared now, even if he does seem a little annoyed.

"I wanna sleep," he mutters.

This poses an issue. Jay's powers are not unlimited. He cannot keep using them forever. He'd had to put Beta down a while back so that he could focus all his energy on keeping the path lit for them. As soon as he stops using his powers, they'll be in pitch black darkness, which he had learned the hard way along with the fact that Beta is _terrified_ of the dark.

He had been afraid of the dark when he was little, so it wasn't _that_ surprising. It didn't make it any less inconvenient, though.

Jay's beginning to wonder if Beta was right and this abyss really is endless. The worst part is, though, he doesn't even know if they've been walking for a long time or not. Because, of course, there _is_ no time. However, there's no space either, so have they even gotten anywhere at all?

"I _told_ you," Beta says pointedly, as if reading Jay's mind. "There's no way out. We're just gonna get stuck and die here in the dark."

"We're not going to get stuck here and die in the dark," Jay assures him.

Beta scowls. "You don't know that. I've been here for way longer than you."

"If time doesn't exist here, then that can't be true. Neither of us have been here for _any_ time."

"You don't know how it works."

"Neither do you!"

"I _do_ know how it works! You jus-"

" _Ow!_ "

"...what just happened?"

In all fairness, for the majority of their trip there hadn't been anything to look at other than the darkness that stretched on for miles, so up until now there hadn't really been a need to look where they were going.

Jay swears under his breath and looks up to see what he's just run into.

It's a door.

Just a door. It's not attached to any building or anything; it's just a door standing there in the middle of nowhere. It looks old, with its faded red paint peeling off the rotting wood and the rusty brass doorknob with intricate designs carved into it. Jay stares at it for a moment, mesmerized, and begins to reach for the knob to open it.

But Beta's face goes pale, and he grabs onto Jay's arm and whispers, "Don't."

"Why? What's wrong?"

" _Don't._ "

"Don't what?"

Beta doesn't reply. He stares back at the door in horror, silent panic dancing around in his eyes. Jay kneels down so that they're eye-level.

"Don't what, Beta?"

Beta swallows. "Don't," he mumbles, his voice hoarse. "Don't look for him. He's...he's bad. He's really bad."

Jay frowns. "Who are you talking about? Who's bad?"

All he gets in response is a blank stare as Beta's eyes glaze over.

"Beta. Beta, talk to me. What's happening?"

Beta shakes his head. "No," he mutters. "He's _bad_. He'll _kill_ you. _Again_."

"...what do you mean ' _again_?'"

Beta Jay sets his jaw and stands there staring at the door for what was probably a long time, if time existed. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he murmurs finally. "Open it."

"Open...the door? You just said _not_ to open the door, though. I'm confused."

"He's not in the first room. You can go in the first room, but you can't go any further. After you find what you're looking for you need to come right back out."

" _What_?" Jay sputters. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"Don't. Go past. The first. Room."

"Um. Okay? Are you coming?"

"No."

"Well. Uh...so I just, uh..."

"Just hurry up."

"Okay!" Jay swallows, placing his hand on the doorknob. He opens it up.

The room is massive, but empty. And, Jay realizes with a start, everything is in black and white, including him. He steps fully inside, and Beta closes the door behind him. He kind of would have preferred for it to stay open, but... _wait_. It's not empty anymore, is it?

There's a phone in the center of the room.

* * *

"He's gonna be okay, Kai. Dr. Julien said he could fix him."

"Did he say what was wrong with him?"

"Well...no, but-"

"I don't think he's telling the truth."

Nya pauses, looking back at her brother curiously. "Why would he be lying?"

Kai furrows his brows, examining the schematics on the computer screen with a fervor that was, frankly, a bit worrying. He traces his finger along the keyboard and bites his lip. "So, I've been feeling kind of weird lately."

"What does that have to do with Dr. Julien lying?"

"I...don't...know." He swallows, turning around to look at Zane, who's lying down on the table in the middle of the room. It's more than a little unnerving seeing their friend like that, his eyes wide open and unblinking, void of the life that usually inhabits them. His chest panel is open, revealing the wires and machinery. Absentmindedly, Kai reaches out and grabs Zane's left hand, stroking it with his thumb and frowning. "I keep...it's like I...it's like deja vu, but it's...creepy. It feels like there's something that I'm really, really close to remembering, but it won't...it won't finish coming back, and I...yeah."

"You're...not making very much sense here, Kai."

Kai growls in frustration. "I know! None of this makes sense! But, I mean, there has to be _some_ way to play back the message, and if anyone could figure it out, it's you."

"What message?"

"Oh. I thought I already told you about..." Kai tapers off.

"...Kai? Are you okay?"

Kai shivers. "I...okay, so when I was alone with him when he, you know...deactivated or whatever, there was a voice that came from him that...wasn't...him. It was all distorted and creepy, and it, uh...gave me a list of instructions."

"What did it say?"

"I honestly have no idea. It sounded like a bunch of cryptic nonsense to me, but I think...I, okay, there was something about a red door. And seeds. And, um...yeah, that's all I remember. I...but that's why I need you to find it! I would do it myself but I'm not really a tech person. That's kind of your specialty."

Nya looks back at Zane curiously. "You want me to look around in Zane's brain?"

"Well...yeah. Of course, we couldn't do it here, because I have a feeling Dr. Julien wouldn't want us to. He says he can fix Zane, but it's been days and he won't even tell us what happened. I have this really bad feeling about all of this. I feel like we can't trust him. Or anyone, really."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You want us to steal our friend while he's unconscious and smuggle him into the basement so that I can hack into his brain and look for a transmission that only you heard and can't even remember most of, and we can't tell anybody because you're paranoid that there's some sort of grand conspiracy going on that Dr. Julien is a part of?"

"Neither of us are straight, Nya, but yeah, basically."

"...okay. I'm in."

* * *

He really hadn't wanted to kill her.

It was just that, he hadn't had a choice.

The words had echoed through his mind as he stared back at his mother with wide eyes, wondering if he'd heard her right.

He recognized that look. If he didn't do it, he would be subjected to hours of _real_ time, exposed to bright lights that would agonize his hyper-sensitive eyes and seep into his brain, pounding and squeezing his head into a migraine seizure that would leave him immobile for days. He wouldn't be allowed to leave the room until he regained enough muscle control to clean up the inevitable puddle of vomit that he would leave on the floor. That is, if he didn't accidentally get it all over himself, which had happened a few times before and had left him reeking of stomach acid for a nauseating two weeks before he was allowed to take a shower.

Nightwalker turned back to Beta Libber, his sword in his trembling hands, and closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch. The anguished shriek Beta Jay gave when he watched his mother fall to the ground made everything so much worse, but somehow he was able to keep himself silent all the way through, through every agonizing moment, through his mother taking his chin in her hand and whispering in a honeyed voice, "you did so well, little bluebird."

He was able to keep himself silent until he was alone and safe in the confines of his room again, where he slipped down the wall and covered his ears and screamed until his throat was raw and he was too tired to stay sitting up anymore.

He collapsed in a heap and curled in on himself, so many words screaming through his head over and over again that didn't stop even after he finally fell asleep.

He killed her.

_He killed her_.

His hands have been cleaned since then, but he can still feel the bright red running through, slipping through his fingers as he clutches his head in his hands.

Shadow Jay has blood on his hands, and it will _never_ be washed off.

* * *

There's something wrong.

This isn't too unusual a conclusion for someone with an anxiety disorder to come to, but even when it wasn't being managed well, nothing had ever felt _this_ off. Lloyd's felt like he's on the cusp of a panic attack for nearly three hours straight at this point, and it is driving him _insane_.

Everything feels _wrong_. It's like dysphoria, but inside out. Instead of him being all wrong, it's everything else.

"I...okay, this is gonna sound kind of weird, but I've been feeling the exact same way lately," Cole says softly, handing Lloyd a cup of water and sitting next to him on the bed. Lloyd had come over a while ago (through the window, which was a weird and somewhat concerning habit of his) because neither of his parents were home and he felt like he wanted someone around if he _were_ to have a panic attack. Cole's usually the best listener, too, besides Zane, who is currently...out of commission.

"Really?" he whispers.

"Yeah. Like...some sort of messed up deja vu or something. I don't know how to explain it. It just feels..."

"Wrong," Lloyd finishes for him, biting his lip. "I don't know. If I didn't know better, I'd think th-" he cuts himself off when Cole's phone goes off.

"Oh. Sorry," Cole mutters. "It's probably just...wait. What the heck?"

"What?"

"The...the caller ID. It's not there."

"What do you mean it's not there?" Lloyd asks, peeking over Cole's shoulder so he can see the screen. Cole's right—there _isn't_ a caller ID. The whole screen is black, in fact, except for the options to either hang up or answer.

Cole blinks. "I'm gonna answer it."

This doesn't seem like the best idea to Lloyd, but he doesn't do anything to stop him.

Cole answers the phone. "Hello?"

There's some static at the other end of the phone for a minute before the other person speaks. "Cole? Is that you?"

Cole furrows his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah, that's my name..."

"Th-thank you for picking up." There's a lot of feedback, but Cole can hear well enough to pick up on the tone of voice of the other person. They sound...scared. "I...I'm sorry. I don't know what else to...what else to do, I just...I don't know what's going on, and..."

"Wait. Who are you?"

There's a weighted pause so long Cole thinks the connection has been severed or the person on the other side didn't hear him, but just before he's about to repeat himself he gets an answer. "Wh-what do you mean, _who am I_? I'm Jay, remember?"

"Jay? I don't know anyone named..." and then Cole's phone clatters to the ground, and his hands fly up to cover his mouth, and he stares blankly off into the middle distance with exactly one thought running through his mind.

_What the absolute fuck happened?_


	15. Five Steps From Infinity

Beta Jay wakes up alone in an empty house.

This alone isn't very strange. His mom works full-time and she's usually at work before he wakes up, so actually, it'd be weirder if he _didn't_ wake up in an empty house.

The thing that makes this particular occurrence strange, though, is that Beta had never gone to sleep in the first place.

Just seconds ago, he had been playing video games with Cole and Kai. But then he blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, he was...here.

Beta sits up, looking around confused at his surroundings. It looks like his bedroom. Maybe he had just woken up from a very vivid dream?

But no, the taste of Mrs. Hence's cookies is still fresh in his mouth, and he's wearing the exact same clothes he had been just seconds ago. "Hello?" he asks timidly, opening the door to the hallway.

He gets no response. It's eerily quiet. There's not even the sound of the clock ticking, because the hands seem to be frozen at 4:38. There's definitely something wrong here. Everything feels weird, like this isn't really his house but a copy of it that's _almost_ exactly the same, but not quite.

Beta stands there for a minute, not really sure what to do.

He blinks again, and then...

**Snap.**

He's lying on the ground, with Kai and Cole over him both looking very concerned. "Oh my god! You're not dead!" Kai cries the second Beta Jay opens his eyes again.

"Dude, what happened?" Cole asks him. "You just collapsed all of the sudden, like you fainted or something. Are you okay?"

"Uh..." Jay mumbles. "Y-yeah. I'm okay."

There's a few moments of silence as Kai and Cole exchange worried glances and back up so that Jay can sit up.

"Seriously. I'm fine. I don't know what that was about, but I'm sure it won't happen again," Jay insists hastily.

There's another pause, as if they don't really believe him. But they don't seem to know what to about it so instead Kai just says, "Okay, good. You need to be conscious for me to beat you at Prime Empire."

Jay smirks. "Yeah, right," he retorts. "As if that would ever happen."

The rest of the day goes by without any more weird incidents, but when he realizes that it's 9 pm and Libber still hasn't come to pick him up from Cole's house, the uneasy feeling from earlier returns.

Mrs. Hence lets him stay the night, of course—he already has clothes here because he and Cole have sleepovers at least every other week.

But he stays awake long after Cole has fallen asleep, his ear pressed up against the door trying to listen to what Mrs. Hence is saying about his mom.

In the morning, they still haven't found her.

They don't find Beta either.

* * *

"Wh-what do you mean, who am I? I'm Jay, remember?"

"Jay? I don't know anyone named..."

The voice on the other end of the phone falters, and Jay hears something clatter to the floor. "Cole?" he says, anxiously twisting the phone cord around his fingers. Why doesn't he remember him? Or maybe he does, but he's just...mad at him or something? But why would...Jay's memory feels fuzzy. He can't remember what he did before he left. Did he do something to make them mad? Why is he pretending he doesn't know who he is? Why isn't he answering?

There are still noises coming from the other side of the phone, so he hasn't hung up. Jay can vaguely make out the sound of muffled voices, but he can't tell what they're saying.

"Hello?" he asks. "Uhh...are...are you still there? I'm, uh...I'm kinda not really sure what the heck is goi-"

"Jay?" Cole interrupts him, sounding frantic.

"You...you know who I am now? Why were you...what was that about? What's happening? I-"

"Where are you? Are you safe? What the hell happened? Why is everything a-"

"Wait, slow down! I...I, um...I don't really know the answers to any of those questions right now, bu-"

"Are you safe?" Cole repeats.

"I already told you, I don't know," Jay admits. "If I'm being honest...probably not for long, but at the moment, yes."

Cole swallows. "Um...okay," he says, his voice shaky. "I'm...I'm so confused. It's like I have two sets of memories now, and they completely contradict each other. I can't remember which-" he abruptly cuts himself off.

"Remem- Remember what?"

"Jay!" Lloyd cries, who seems to have stolen the phone from Cole. "Oh my god, I have no idea what's happening. I'm like, fourteen, and everyone who's supposed to be dead is still alive, and you don't exist, an-"

"I don't exist? What? What are you talking about?!"

"I don't know! Everything's all messed up, and I can't remember anything correctly. All my memories are all mixed up and mashed together, and I can't tell which ones are the fake ones."

"The _fake_ ones? What are you talking about?"

"I just- ah, hey, no, give it back!"

"Okay! Hi! It's me again," says Cole, who has taken his phone back from Lloyd. "I don't really know how to explain it. I...I woke up a few weeks ago and everything was different. It's like we're in some sort of parallel universe where everything's supposed to be perfect, but you don't exist and it's all messed up an-"

"And I'm fourteen! I was never aged up and now I'm super short! It's real-"

"Lloyd! Stop taking my phone! Anyway, we had all been feeling really weird, like something was missing, but we couldn't remember what, and then I got a phone ca-"

"The caller ID was completely blank. It was so weird. What phone are you calling o- Oh wait, where even are you? Are you okay?"

"I...um..." Jay stutters. "I'm in this place called...the In Between? I don't think it's...where you are, though?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole says. "How can we find you?"

"I don't think you can. It like...it exists outside of time, and I don't think it's like, in the same...dimension? I don't know! I know about physics, but this is just really complicated and it's making my brain hurt and I-"

Before Jay can finish his sentence, the door is thrown open and slammed shut again. He drops the phone in surprise, preparing to fight off whoever had just come in the room, but it's just Beta.

"Beta! What the heck are y-" he frowns when Beta looks up at him, taking note of the tear tracks down his cheeks. "Are you okay?"

Beta lets out a choked sob, and he buries his face in Jay's chest.

"Woah, hey," Jay says, awkwardly patting him on the head. "What happened?"

Beta looks up at Jay with a terrified expression, still latched onto him. "I...I th- I think Nightwalker's...back. I...I heard something, and, and I..."

"Okay, wait. Calm down," Jay says. He sits down cross-legged on the floor and Beta climbs into his lap, shivering in fear. "I, uh...I'm gonna tell my friends I need to hang up really quick, okay?"

Beta nods his head against Jay's chest, and Jay picks the phone back up.

"Uh, hi, s-"

"What just happened?" Cole asks.

"Uh...I...I'm, uh, gonna need to call you back, okay?"

"Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Probably not? I, uh, I have this kid now. And he's me. Well, actually, he's also my little brother but I have decided to make him my son, which is weird because he's kind of in a way like my cousin but also my brother at the same time, but he's still me."

"Wha- What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

"Jay," Beta whimpers. "We have to go. He's gonna find us."

Jay swallows. "Okay! Um, bye, Cole!"

"Wait, wait, _don't hang u-_ "

Jay hangs up. That might not have been a very good way to end their conversation, but he has other things to deal with and he's a bit panicked at the moment. "Uh, okay! What the heck is a nightwalker?"

Beta's breath hitches as soon as he says that word, and he squeezes his eyes shut. "The other us. He's bad."

"He's...the bad person you were talking about? I thought you said he was on the other side of the door?"

"I don't know!" Beta cries. "He's just...he's really bad, and he...he killed Delta Jay, and also my mom, and he looks really scary and he's missing his left eye and I heard a noise outside and it sounded like him, an- and I, I jus- we have to _hide_."

"Are you sure you actually heard him? Maybe it was just your imagina-"

"I'm _not_ imagining it! I know what hallucinations feel like! I don't know how he got out...he's supposed to be always locked up, b-but I..."

And then Jay hears it, too—there are _footsteps_. Coming from _right outside the door_.

Beta's trembling in fear, tears rolling down his cheeks as he follows Jay's gaze to the door. "Please, we need to get out," he whispers, latching onto Jay as tight as he possibly can.

"But...where do we go? I don't see any other doors here besi-"

The doorknob turns, and Jay's stomach drops.

* * *

"Have you found anything yet?"

" _Kai_. I'm basically doing _brain surgery._ You can't rush me," Nya huffs, brushing the hair out of her eyes before taking another miniature chip from the drawer under the table and inputting it in the panel on the back of Zane's head.

"I'm not rushing you! I'm just asking!" Kai sits down in the chair in the corner of the room for two seconds before standing back up and beginning to pace back and forth again. "But nothing? Still?"

Nya glares at him and sets her tools down for a moment. "I have to be careful, Kai. I don't want to damage any of his hardware, okay? So far, everything looks normal, but I've only gotten past the first two layers of code. It's not like I'm hacking into someone's computer—this is _Zane_. It's going to take a little longer."

Kai sighs. "Okay, okay. I got it. I'm sorry. I'm just...impatient."

"Well, you wanna help instead of just walking around and annoying me?" Nya suggests.

Kai perks up at this. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Go get my laptop from upstairs and then plug in his auxiliary processors, the ones under his left arm that lead back to his neutrino generator, because the main bionic capacitor is too small for me to..." Nya trails off after seeing Kai's confused expression and sighs. "Never mind. Just get my computer, okay?"

"Right. _That_ I can do."

Kai leaves the room for the first time since Nya had started "operating" and runs upstairs to get her laptop. Unfortunately, it doesn't turn out to be that useful, because almost seconds after he picks it up, somebody kicks the front door open and he drops it in surprise. Before he can even think about how angry Nya's going to be with him, or yell at Cole for kicking his door open (he could have just knocked! He would have let him in!) Cole blurts out, "This is going to sound crazy, but a little while ago I got a call from a blank number and it was actually Jay, who's our best friend that has been somehow erased from this timeline, and I think he's in trouble but I don't know how to track it back to its source, and I'm not even sure if that's _possible_ because the caller ID was blank, but I have to try because I have no idea what's going on an-"

"Dude! What the...what the actual fuck!" Kai exclaims. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sorry!" says Lloyd, who's just walked in the house behind Cole. "We're kind of panicked right now—we just need to talk to Nya and see if we can trace the call to a source so we can find Jay."

"Who the hell is Jay?"

"He's...he's my...he's our best friend. Somehow he's been like, _erased_ from this timeline. Like...remember how I was fading on the Day of the Departed and you all started forgetting about me?"

Kai gawks at him.

"Wrong timeline," Lloyd mutters. "That's from the other one, remember?"

"Shit, I'm getting them all mixed up...Kai, I really need you to remember. Th-"

"Uhh...sorry to interrupt...whatever this is," Nya, who has just walked into the room, sputters. "But I, uh...I just found...this. Plugged into Zane." She holds up a small UBS drive and then looks down at the floor. "Wait, what the hell did you do to my laptop?"

Nobody answers her question. Instead, Lloyd's eyes go wide and he snatches the UBS drive from her, one hand flying up to cover his mouth. "Oh my god," he mutters.

"What is it? You've seen it before?"

"I..." Lloyd takes a shaky breath. "Y-yeah, I'm remembering what...what happened before..."

"Lloyd?" Kai says softly. "Are you okay?"

He nods, although the frightened look on his face doesn't change. "I...remember what happened before everything changed." He takes his hand away from his mouth and bites his lip. "It...th-this...all of this is...the...the plan is explained on the files on the drive and...it's...the Gemini Protocol."

"What's the Gemini Protocol?" Cole asks.

There's another very, very long pause. Lloyd looks up at them darkly, an unreadable but negative expression drawn on his face. "They were going to...experiment on our timeline, b-because it's the main one and it would change all the others too, and... _it worked_. We...we forgot _everything_. And...and they're gonna do it again and again until we stop remembering, and..." his face pales. "We're going to forget about this by tomorrow. We're gonna forget all about Jay again, an-and we're gonna forget all about the phone call, because it's _all_ going to reset and we'll be trapped in an endless loop of remembering and forgetting, and there's...there's _nothing we can do to stop them_."

* * *

The door was...unlocked?

That didn't make sense. Shadow Jay's mother didn't make mistakes. Everything was always perfect wherever she was concerned. She made this whole place, after all—all of it. The Room, and the Beach, and the Backyard, and the Well, and the Basement, and the Annex, and even the Telescope. Shadow Libber didn't do anything by accident.

Then how could she have left the door unlocked? Wasn't she always afraid he was going to try to get out?

Why would he try to get out, though? She told him to stay, so he stayed. Even though she hurt him sometimes. Even though she took advantage of his only remaining eye, which was messed up so that it was always dilated and couldn't filter out any light. He always stayed in his room in the Basement in the dark, which was how he earned the nickname "Nightwalker." But sometimes Shadow Libber would turn the lights on _super_ bright, and it would hurt his eye so much that his head felt like it was about to explode and he got really nauseous...but...but that was just when he got in trouble. She didn't do it to be _mean_. She _loved_ Shadow Jay, didn't she? She wouldn't hurt him like that if she didn't have a good reason.

Right?

_Right_?

Shadow Jay can't remember how to cry.

He can't remember how to think.

He can't remember how to feel, or how he's _supposed_ to feel, and he's _so_ confused.

Shadow Libber and Libber Prime were getting ready for the next reboot, and all he could think was that he _didn't_ want to be a battery again and he _didn't_ want to get a headache and throw up again, and he _didn't_ want to _be_ here anymore.

If he remembered how to cry, he's sure he'd be bawling right now. He's just made everything so much worse by running away. When they find him, he's going to be in _so_ much trouble.

And they will find him. They always find him. Shadow Libber knows everything. And Shadow Jay knows nothing. Sometimes he doesn't even know his own name.

He just wants to go home, but he can't remember what home is anymore. _He can't remember anything._

But that door in front of him right now sure does look familiar.

Maybe he should open it.


	16. Cosmic Expansion

When the door opens, there's a very long pause before anything happens.

Jay immediately notices two things.

One, Nightwalker is missing an eye. Beta had already told him that, but the really interesting thing about this is that it is the same eye that Jay had lost on the Misfortune's Keep during the deleted part of his timeline.

Two, Nightwalker looks absolutely _terrified_. He has a demeanor comparable to that of an abused animal—his eye would be wide even if it weren't dilated, his hands are shaky, and when he makes eye-contact with Jay he seems to freeze in terror.

This does _not_ look like the cold-blooded murderer that Beta had described. He looks _scared_ , and he looks _lost_ , and Jay is at a complete loss of what to do.

…Even more so when Beta turns around and looks at him, and his equally-terrified expression morphs into one of pure anger. "It _is_ you," he growls. "I knew it. What are you _doing_ here?"

Nightwalker opens his mouth, as if to try and say something, but nothing comes out of it. He closes it.

"How did you get out of your cage?" Beta demands. He pries himself away from Jay and jumps to his feet.

Nightwalker covers his mouth with his hands, looking at the floor.

"Woah, wait, what's going on?" Jay interrupts. " _That's_ Nightwalker? He killed your mom?"

" _And_ Delta. And...Delta _loved_ him. Delta was like a _brother_ to him, and he _killed_ him."

Nightwalker vigorously shakes his head no, taking a step backwards.

"Yes you _did_!" Beta argues. His hands are curled into fists and there are tears streaming down his cheeks.

Jay hurriedly puts his hands on Beta's shoulders. "Beta, please calm down."

"He _killed_ them, Jay!"

"I...okay, I have no idea what's going on, but I...I'm just gonna take a wild guess here and say Nightwalker...isn't actually the real bad guy here? He looks _scared_ , Beta. Look at him."

Beta looks. And he stares at him for a few minutes, before looking away again, arms hugging himself and staring angrily at the ground. "I don't care. I hate him. I don't care what she was gonna do to him. He killed the only good people in this whole place."

"...Beta, who's 'she?'"

There's a moment of silence. Beta's face crumples, and he buries it in his hands. "The real bad guy."

"And...do you think maybe Nightwalker was just really scared of the 'real bad guy?' Fear...can make people do bad things sometimes. I mean, I'm not...I'm not saying you can't be mad. I understand that you can't just...forgive him, just like that. But...I think he needs help too. I don't think he deserves to be stuck here either."

Beta looks at Nightwalker again, and then back at Jay, and then back at the floor. "...Okay," he says.

* * *

_"I was once human too, you know."_

_"You're...not human anymore?"_

_"No. I've been stuck here for too long. It's too late for me."_

_"What are you talking about? What's too late?"_

_"My soul is tethered. I'm bound to this place now. I can never go home."_

_"But...but I thought you said..."_

_"I can't come with you."_

_"But..._ Mom _. I...I_ just _got you back. What am I..."_

_She cups his face with her hands and plants a soft kiss on his forehead. "I need you to do as I say, alright? The other versions of me don't know about the Council. I need you to take these to the In Between." She presses two matching dragon necklaces into his hand. "The black one will set off a beacon when it detects the Anomaly, and then the CKCC will be able to shut it down. The blue one is supposed to make you immune to the seeds."_

_"The seeds?"_

_"It's...they're made of this stuff Shadow calls Radio Static. I don't know what it really is, or even how it works, but the frequency they emit makes electricity go haywire. They're also supposed to be able to disrupt brainwaves somehow, which is dangerous because it'll make you susceptible to her brainwashing tactics. So you need to keep this necklace on at all times, alright?"_

_"...Okay," Delta Jay agrees._

* * *

_The second he takes it off, he can feel it. Delta nearly doubles over, and he looks back at Shadow in shock. "You feel like this all the time?" he says._

_Shadow simply stares at him. Delta swallows and slips the necklace on over Shadow's head, tucking it under his shirt and making sure it's not visible._

_"There," he says. "How's that?"_

_Shadow blinks a few times, looking confused. "B-better," he mumbles._

_"Okay, good." Delta sighs, sliding down the wall._

_"Don't you need it?" Shadow says, looking concerned._

_"You...you need it way more than I do." Shadow still doesn't look convinced, so Delta clicks his tongue and says, "Tell you what. We'll take turns, okay? If it gets to be too much for me I'll take it back for a little bit, but I'm not keeping it all to myself. You can't even_ talk _without it."_

_Shadow nods, and he sits down next to Delta on the floor._

_"One more thing," Delta says. "They can't find out about it, okay? You need to keep it hidden at all times, and remember that if they come in, you're not allowed to talk, because you're not supposed to be able to. If they find out you have it, they'll take it away and then both of us will be miserable."_

_"Okay," says Shadow. "Secret."_

_"That's right, bud," Delta says. "It's a secret. You promise they won't find out?"_

_"Promise."_

* * *

_"Mom?" Beta whispers. "Wh-what's going on?"_

_"I...I don't know. Just...stay behind me, baby, okay?"_

_"Who is she? Why does she look like you?" He latches on to his Beta Libber's arm, nervously looking past her to the woman across from them. Her face looks identical to his mother's, only with duller, greyer eyes, less freckles, and an unsettling wolf-in-sheep's-clothing smile that he's never seen on his mom's face._

_"It's a pleasure to meet you, darling."_

_Ooh, her voice sounds the same, too. Beta shivers as she walks across the floor, her heels clicking on the black and white checkered floor. He can't see any walls, or a ceiling for that matter. There's a dim white light coming from somewhere, but other than that these tiles seem to stretch on forever into the darkness._

_She stops a foot away from his mom, and Beta Libber instinctively shields him with her arm. "What do you want?" she says in a low voice._

_The woman grins at her. "You can call me Shadow, dear. Welcome to the In Between. We're going to have lots of fun."_

_"You didn't answer my question. Why are we here? What do you want with us?"_

_"That's a bit of a long story, I'm afraid. But don't worry. We have all the time in the world. Or none of it, depending on how you look at it."_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_Shadow snaps her fingers, and suddenly their surroundings change. No...Beta's surroundings change. He's in another room, one that's almost pitch black, save for the tiny bit of light coming in through the tiny slits in the tiny window at the top of the wall behind him. His mom is gone._

_Beta stumbles backwards a little in shock. "M-mom?"_

_What the heck is happening? One second he'd been in Cole's room, listening through the door to try to hear what Mrs. Hence was saying about his mom, and then the next...the next he had been in that weird place with his mom and the woman that looked like her...this had all happened in the span of what felt like about five minutes, so he is, understandably, a bit disoriented._

_Not to mention scared and confused. He doesn't understand what's happening, and he can't help the tears that prickle in the corner of his eyes when he wraps his arms around himself and steps backwards again, his heart rate quickening. "Mom?" he repeats, his tone more panicked. "I...where..."_

_And then there are footsteps behind him._

_Beta yelps and whirls around, coming face to face with...a person who looks almost exactly like him? They have the exact same hair, the exact same freckles, the exact same eyebrow notch...the only difference is the other one looks much older, maybe about eighteen._

_"God, you're young. How old are you?" he says._

_"I...I'm twelve. I mean thirteen," Beta whispers._

_"Which one is it?"_

_"Thirteen. My birthday was only two weeks ago, so I..." he trails off. "Who are you?"_

_"My name's Jay."_

_"I'm...also Jay."_

_"I...know. You're Beta Jay."_

_"I'm...what?"_

_"You're from the Beta Timeline. I'm from the Delta Timeline, so my name is Delta Jay."_

_Beta furrows his brows, confused. "Are there more of us?"_

_"In the multiverse? Yes, there is an infinite amount of Jays. In the In Between, also yes, but there's only one more, from the Shadow Timeline. Sometimes people call him Nightwalker, but he...doesn't really care." Delta turns around and disappears into the darkness for a moment. "Hey, Shadow? There's someone new, do you want to meet him?" He pauses for a moment. "Okay, hang on. Beta, he might look a little scary at first, but I promise he's not going to hurt you. He's more scared than scary."_

_"What do y-" Beta cuts himself off with a sharp gasp when Shadow Jay comes into view. He's...missing...an eye._

_Shadow blinks. (Or would it be winked, since he only has one eye?) "Oh," he mumbles. "D, where is..." he cups a hand over the spot where his eye should be._

_"You dropped your eyepatch and it got all dusty, remember? I don't want you putting it on again until she lets us wash it. It'll give you an infection."_

_Shadow frowns. "Scary."_

_"What's scary?"_

_"My...not-eye."_

_"It's not..." Delta sighs. "I didn't mean it like that. It could be a little startling to him. He's just a kid, see?"_

_Shadow looks back at Beta, his hand still cupped over his empty eye-socket._

_Beta looks back at him. It's not just the eye. He has a few other scars on his face, but the thing that really freaks Beta out is the look on his face. His other eye, for starters, is so dilated it looks mostly black with just a tiny rim of pale blue around it. But even besides that, there's something so deep and uncomfortable about the way Nightwalker is looking at him he has to look away._

_"I...I want my mom," he mumbles. "What happened to her?"_

_"Gone?" says Shadow._

_"She's...not gone," Delta says. "She's still somewhere in the In Between. Shadow L and Prime need her."_

_"For what?" Beta asks._

_Delta bites his lip, as if he realized he'd said something he shouldn't have. "She, uh...she has lightning. And...they want it."_

_"Ours too," Shadow says. "And it...hurts."_

* * *

_"I...I don't want to kill him," Shadow whimpers, covering his face with his hands. "Please don't make me."_

_"You don't get a say in the matter, dear. I'm sorry. I know you think he's your friend, but Delta Jay is the_ enemy _."_

_"But...he's...he's nice, and he helps me and Beta, and he's like a big brother, an-"_

_"Yeah. And what does he help you with, huh? He helps you lie and hide things from me, doesn't he?"_

_Shadow Jay's head snaps up, eye wide in fear. "N-no. No, he...I..."_

_"You're not supposed to keep secrets from me, little bluebird. I thought you loved me."_

_"I...I_ do _l-love you, I..."_

_"You're lying."_

_"No!"_

_"If you loved me, you would do as I say. Kill Delta, and give me the necklace."_

_Shadow's trembling hand wraps around the stone dragon, staring back at his mother with a terrified glance. Are you supposed to be so afraid of people who love you? Is it normal to tremble in fear when they do so much as just say your name?_

_"Shadow, what do you think you're accomplishing by defying me? You really think you're going to win?"_

_"...N-no."_

* * *

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